Mohanlal’s upcoming festive entertainer from director B Unnikrishnan seems to have recycled, as expected, all the ‘mass hero’ tropes associated with the superstar. However, this time, everything is cranked up more than usual. At least three characters ‘announce’ his arrival with questions that are variations of ‘Who is he?’ while Mohanlal’s Neyyattinkara Gopan gives himself, in a voiceover, multiple descriptions. “I’m not a gangster. I’m not a monster. I’m sinister. I’m Lucifer.”
The trailer is loaded with Lucifer references, and one wonders if the movie has more of them and whether they would look out of place or fit perfectly with the character. Oh, and he arrives in a black car, once again. Sai Kumar is entrusted, once again, with boosting the hero. In one scene, Johny Antony tells him, “I know the next dialogue. ‘Your father is not my father’, right?”
Elsewhere, Shraddha Srinath, who plays an IAS officer, asks, “Who is he? I mean, what is he?” With Kannada actor Ramachandra Raju (KGF-fame) supposedly playing the bad guy and the talk of an underworld war, everything about the film screams BIG!
An ample serving of humour is also expected, most notably from Siddique, who plays a senior police official who asks Gopan for a transfer because he doesn’t want to witness what is about to happen. Though an official release date hasn’t been announced yet, Aarattu is expected to release this month.