Prisons have often been the apt backdrops for thrilling narratives. Unless it’s a Mathilukal or Sadayam that attempts deep exploration of a convict’s psyche, these narratives are mostly about how one lands in jail and the future course of action—which, more often than not, is escape. There’s usually a sense of thrill and excitement while watching these films. But not with Pulli, though. The latest Jiju Asokan directorial about a revenge-hungry convict flounders to elicit any such response. What it instead feels like is 150 minutes of imprisonment without any redemption.
The film begins by introducing the protagonist Stephen (Dev Mohan) as a well-behaved inmate, who heads the prison’s candle manufacturing unit. Except for the fact that he is serving his second term, we don’t know much about him, including the reason for his imprisonment. The narrative moves back and forth between his annoying past love story and his present days in jail. If the romantic portions are exhausting, the present is not engaging either as we see Stephen entangled in a pointless clash with the jail warden, Simon (Kalabhavan Shajohn).
Jiju Asokan paints the jail and its inmates in broad strokes of stereotyping. Like in most prison films, there’s the presence of a respected veteran convict, sexual predators, hired assassins and scheming officers. The film doesn’t have anything new to show about the jail or the life inside. The writing in Pulli is as aimless as it can get. It’s as if the makers were confused between making a jailbreak film or a revenge drama or a rescue thriller. The jailbreak and the investigation that ensues is laughable as you see the officers making a fool out of themselves by overlooking the basics. Among them, Rajesh Sharma plays an unintentionally funny character of a strict superintendent who slips into random English dialogues.
The fact that he had played a similar role efficiently in Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil, also a prison film, tells a lot about the shoddy direction. In fact, even the lead actor, Dev Mohan’s performance is not convincing enough. Despite his character going through various emotions, the actor carries a wooden expression throughout. Similarly ineffective is the female lead, Meenakshi Dinesh.
While at it, it’s also important to call out the makers for the insensitive portrayal of the assault scenes featuring her. It could have been easily avoided, given that it’s already verbally narrated how brutally she has been assaulted. You know a film is failing when you see it relying on coincidences to take the plot forward. Pulli has an abundance of it. In the second half, almost all the major leads pop up coincidentally, some of which are too hard to believe, like Stephen, a former convict, stumbling upon crucial case files in the SP office. And guess what’s the latest technique to cover up these gaping writing flaws? Leave hints of a second part. Nalla Nilavulla Rathri, King of Kotha, Bandra and now this...