I had lost my love for Mohanlal a few years back when he started acting in movies like vamanapuram busroute to ladies and gentleman. The obnoxious Mohanlal Fans Association that exists only to howl at other actors, and his obsession to do romatic roles at oldage, have fueled my criticism for the so called ‘complete actor.’ So I had promised myself not to watch any more Mohanlal movie in the theatre.
An exemption had to be made last day, when my entire family decided to go for Drishyam(ദൃശ്യം) at Q Cinemas. I reluctantly accompanied them pacifying myself that it is given 4.5stars by Kochi Times.
After watching the movie, I had only one feeling. The ratings were purchased and the fans association played along well. The true review of Dhrishyan is it a strictly an average affair, with a boring first half and a redeeming second half.
The first half can best be described as a lengthy moral science class. Mohanlal professes virtues of organic farming and fights corruption of a local police constable. The story picks up later with a sleazy video clip of his daughter and gripping events that happen afterwards. Second half is a true thriller and I would credit Jithu Joseph with good marks for its tight execution. The twists and turns of the second half compensates the lousy first half, to a great extent.
In the perception of a common man, the climax is well executed. But legally speaking, it is totally stupid. In the movie, Mohanlal survives the long torture of the police, and does not reveal the details of the missing son of the DIG. But in the climax, Mohanlal confesses to the resigned DIG, that her son was murdered and seeks her forgiveness. The actual law is that all confessions are admissible in evidence except those made to police officers while in custody. So Mohanlal choose to confess when the disability of Asha Sharath, to hear and prove a confession, got removed. He has thereby endangered his family, which he sought to protect allthoughout the movie. Once there is an admissible confession, recovery of dead body of the missing, is of not much relevance in a criminal prosecution. So Mohanlal simply wasted all his efforts by confessing at the end, when he could have simply confessed to police, which is actually inadmissible in court.
All these may sound totally insane while reviewing a movie. You may also criticise me as a law-geek, reviewing everything through grey legal glasses. But the fact is, there is a legal flaw in the climax of drishyam, and it dampend my movie experience. It does not hurt a realistic movie writer to learn law, and frame the script in the right direction.
I would rate drishyam at 3*/5 – An Average Thriller.
Other laymen who watched it along with me, rated it as above average, but not excellent as rated by newspapers.
PS: Oru Indian Pranayakatha is the best film to watch this season
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