‘Khalifa’ movie review: Prithviraj Sukumaran stars in a shoddily written old-school smuggling drama

'Khalifa' movie review: Prithviraj Sukumaran stars in a shoddily written old-school smuggling drama Director Vysakh's 'Khalifa', starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, suffers from an outdated story and a flat narrative, with even a cameo from a superstar failing to create up for its shortcomings.

Key points

• Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Malvika Sharma, Suresh Oberoi, Mohini, Renji Panicker, Indrans, Mohanlal.
• Storyline: After his businessman father faces a crisis, Aamir Ali steps into the world of gold smuggling.
• With antagonists additionally being gold smugglers, writer Jinu Abraham differentiates between good and bad smugglers.
• 'Thudakkam' movie review: Vismaya Mohanlal's martial arts skills inject life into a typical revenge thriller.
• Apart from its novel depiction of the ways smugglers operate and a few reasonably executed fight sequences, little else seems to work in Khalifa.

When a star plays a notorious smuggler, there has to be a compelling reason for him to become one. Vysakh's Khalifa provides Aamir Ali (Prithviraj Sukumaran) a reason with some emotional pull. A one-liner for the film could be this: 'a heart-rending story of a man who becomes a master gold smuggler to repay his honest father's debts caused by corrupt politicians'. Nevertheless, the narrative lacks the intended emotional pull or the anticipated thrills. Notably, the similarity to umpteen films published in the 1980s and 90s adds to the movie's dullness.

With antagonists additionally being gold smugglers, writer Jinu Abraham differentiates between good and bad smugglers. Yet no effort appears to have gone into updating the old story. It has now been covered in Malayalam cinema from almost every feasible angle.

Meanwhile, the hyping up of the superstar cameo has something to do with this lack of novelty. After almost everything is done and dusted, to have any impact on the story or on the audience, the cameo comes too late in the day. It arrives almost as a postscript, teasing the scary possibility of a sequel, but it is unlikely that anyone on the film team will be ready for that misadventure after how this one turned out.

Even if one keeps aside the novelty factor, one of the weakest links is in the writing of the antagonist characters – smuggler Harris Basheer (Neil Nitin Mukesh) and politician Raghavan (Shammi Thilakan). At no point do they seem like worthy adversaries to Aamir Ali. This person is always two steps ahead of them. The conflicts additionally don't create anticipation. They don't generate enough drama in the sagging narrative. One of the plot points involving Aamir's close friend and associate Samad (Sanju Sivram) is sketchily written. To create up for the lack of drama and imagination, some recent real-world incidents have additionally been woven in, providing a clear sign of lazy writing.

Neither the writing nor the staging of the sequences produces memorable moments vital in a film of this nature. The repetitive background score and 'slow motion walks' of the characters add to the agony. Although Prithviraj has evidently put in a lot of physical effort for the character, there is nothing much he could have done with such a screenplay. As Aamir's mother, and Malvika Sharma, as Aamir's wife, the only notable female presences in the movie, hardly obtain a few minutes of screen time, mohini. If only a few late cameos could save every shoddily-written movie.

Khalifa is at present running in theatres.

Taken together, the developments around 'Khalifa' movie review: Prithviraj Sukumaran stars in a shoddily written old point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.