Unnam Malayalam Film Reviews

If you aren’t bored by the remakes of some of those old movies, here is an ‘authorized adaptation’, which is sure to bore you to death! Director Siby Malayil makes a rather sorry adaptation of the 2007 Bollywood thriller Johnny Gaddaar, with Unnam. This shoddy version is a total let down that barely reproduces the crisp narrative, mesmerizing performances and the stylish making of the original.

Five not-so-decent men, Sunny (Lal), Aloshy (Asif Ali), Tomi (Prasanth Narayan), Murukan (Nedumudi Venu) and Basheer (Noushi), team up for a deal with a corrupt cop, Balakrishna (Sreenivasan). The deal goes kaput as one of the gang members try to outsmart the rest.

Sunny had some underworld connections in the past and now spends time with the memories of his late wife, who was a musician. He treats Aloshy like his own son. Tomi is rich, thanks to his flourishing hotel business and some shady deals. His wife Jenni (Rima Kallingal) has been in love with Aloshy but Tomi is unaware about this affair. Swetha Menon plays Sareena, who has a son from her earlier marriage and lives with Murugan, a gambler.

It’s the same backdrop as the original, but even while copying it, Swathi Bhaskar fumbles big time with the screenplay and dialogues. The psyche of the characters look unconvincing and the sight of Asif Ali breaking down after doing certain ‘brave acts’ looks plain amateurish. Come on, they are doing a criminal act and most of his responses are just naïve and even looks unintentionally silly.

Then, there is the hypocrisy that the filmmakers in Malayalam almost always resort to, with their own judgment of the attitudes of the viewers here. Or why should Tomi make a speech on having never touched his wife, as she is not yet ready to accept him as her husband?

It is surprising that a director of Siby Malayil’s stature decided to go for a poor adaptation of a highly appreciated Bollywood thriller! Ajayan Vincent’s visuals are fine but John P Varkey’s music and the lines are pathetic, to say the least. Or else, listen to lines like Unnam nokki eriyeda…, which is a real test of your patience.

The performances, except perhaps for Lal, are mostly disappointing. After his dismal show in ‘Asuravithu’, Asif Ali proves once again that he is not yet ready to be an action hero. Prasanth Narayan, who played the baddie in Murder 2 hams it up. The usually dependable Nedumudi Venu, Sreenivasan and Swetha Menon look out of sync. Rima Kallingal has nothing much to do.

Unnam (meaning ‘target’) reminds one about this basic fact: adapt or remake a film only when it is relevant and when it can be made to suit the times.

Get a copy of the original, if you want to watch a gripping thriller instead of wasting time on this one, which sadly misses the target!