Review of 'The Thriller': A thriller that isn't

My film review that appeared in The Hindu dated 19.11.2011
The title itself is a misnomer with the film never triggering an element of suspense.

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How did you manage to fall from a horse that was standing still? asks Canadian poet Robert Kroetsch in a poem. Surprisingly, director B. Unnikrishnan manages that impossibility with his latest outing, ‘ The Thriller'. Having earlier made ‘Smart City', ‘Madambi', ‘IG' and ‘ Pramani', Mr. Unnikrishnan's latest flick only furthers his downward spiral as a moviemaker.
Contrary to claims of essaying a gripping murder investigation carried out by a young IPS officer, the movie, thanks to its flaccid story, pathetic script and messy execution, comes across as a string of loosely-knit frames in utter disarray.
The title itself is a misnomer with the film never triggering, leave alone sustaining, an element of suspense. At best, it presents a fit case to argue that stunning looks, some hard talk peppered with an odd punch line, and gravity-defying fights could help a police officer solve a murder case. A highway murder of the scion of a top-notch business family—alluding to the one that took place in the State a few months ago—is what Deputy Commissioner of Police Niranjan is investigating.
Two minutes into the movie, he is introduced as singlehandedly taking on not less than half-a-dozen goons against the customary backdrop of sand-laden trucks.
The goons, at the muscular hands of Niranjan, are like the metaphoric ball that the poet Dylan Thomas threw up as a child which has never come back.
The only difference here is that the miscreants flung around by the DCP do manage to touch ground, but not before staying up in the air for aeons. The officer's policy is to engage criminals in stylised fights in all possible locales, from fish markets to even a temple avenue in Nagercoil.
Good for the film's producer Sabu Cherian that the vandals confine themselves to Kerala's neighbourhood! Farcical is to watch the high-profile cop walk away after prolonged street fights without a crease or a speck of dirt on his garb and always with an ‘Aviator' sunglass on!
The ludicrousness is taken to fresh heights with scenes of the DCP shaking a leg, in his thoughts, with his jilted beloved, on the ramparts of the Golkonda Fort.
With the rest of the characters—two forgettable women; a comical mafia don; and a corrupt police commissioner who is powerless before his deputy—listlessly revolving around the larger-than-life Niranjan, it becomes a sickening potion for the audience.
Even its punchy dialogues prove a lacklustre affair. The DCP's prattles like “I dare because I am daring!” only help evoke a certain mock-seriousness, contrary to the expectations of the director as Malayalam movie goers have heard enough of these. Among the off-putting factors of the movie are its punch lines and the action overkill.
Unfortunately, the director seems to be under the impression that the mention of police's ‘cyber cell' (the term ‘cyber forensics' still eludes the DCP), a few call lists and a half-a-minute speech mouthed by the DCP on how to trace the history of missed calls would make it an intelligent investigative film.
There is a scene in the movie in which the nexus between the murdered son of the business tycoon and the mafia is described by the DCP as a “clichéd story”. For the audience of ‘The Thriller', it is far worse.
S. Anandan

courtesy: The Hindu

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