Flashback
The film ‘Johnny Gaddaar’ released in 2007 was noted for its fast pace, the thrill factor and a novel casting. The craft of director Sriram Raghavan combined with a slick making resulted in an entertaining thriller. The success of the movie took Sriram’s career graph to a new high and he has since been roped into big projects like the much-anticipated Saifeena’s ‘Agent Vinod,’ which is all set to hit the screens.
Inspiration
The director who was once known for his realistic narration of intense human relationships, Sibi Malayil, has gone for a complete transformation after his movies like ‘Pranayavarnangal’ and ‘Summer In Bethlehem.’ Yes, nowadays nobody is expecting him to come up with a ‘Thaniyavarthanam’ or ‘Kireedam.’ Though many put the blame for this on the degrading appreciation standards of the viewers, honestly speaking, no effort has been taken by the director to come up with a class movie in the last few years. His desire to catch up with the new generation directors might have prompted him to redo ‘Johnny Gaddaar’ as ‘Unnam.’
The tale
As there is a retirement age fixed in almost all the professions except politics, Sunny (Lal), an underworld don by profession too is forced to retire from service. Hiding his ruthless past behind, the grey hair and stubborn face, the man is leading a peaceful life in Kochi. One day he gets a call from Balakrishna (Sreenivasan), a Karnataka-based police officer who accidentally gets 5 kg of drugs worth `5 crore, seeking the help of Sunny to sell it. Sunny invites his allies Murugan, Aloysius, Tommy and Basheer to help him. His fate! One of them turns to be a traitor and tastes the money. The twist starts from this juncture.
Disappointment
The storyline of ‘Johnny Gaddaar’ offers enough space for Siby Malayil and his crew to experiment with the theme. Unfortunately, after the first few minutes of thrill, the film falls like a pack of cards. Right after the first 30 minutes in this two-hour movie, the suspense element is revealed. The culprit is there and now the viewer just needs to wait to know what will happen to him in the end. Though there are moments of excitement like a flash in some places, the rest of the movie is stale.
Actors
Lal as Sunny, Nedumudi Venu as Murugan, Shwetha as Seleena and Rima Kallingal as Jenny are good in their respective roles. But Asif Ali as Aloysius is a big let down, especially for those who have seen ‘Johnny Gaddaar.’ The role performed by Neil Nitin Mukesh in ‘Johnny Gaddaar’ was noted for the superb screen presence and good dialogue delivery. But here Ali fails in taking the negative route perfectly to win the hearts of the audience. More than that he simply looks clueless in many scenes.
Overall: ‘Unnam’ not only fails in hitting the target but also misses it by miles.
