Samrajyam 2 - Son of Alexander Malayalam Movie
Perarasu's 'Samrajyam 2' is a folly of sorts. For one, it has the gall to pretend to be a sequel to a film that many viewers still hold close to their hearts. And what's more, it does so by cooking up a tale that is unwittingly tedious, narrated in a fashion that is hideously bland.
For the very inquisitive ones among the readers, 'Samrajyam 2' has Jordan (Unni Mukundan), son of Alexander, who has been born and brought up away from the big, bad world of crime that Alexander had been a part of. Yet, several years later when he makes a return to where he truthfully belongs, it becomes impossible for young Jordan to keep his past at bay, for he will, for ever remain Alexander's son.
It's been a good twenty five years since 'Samrajyam', the Jomon film that starred Mammootty in the lead role was released, and when one first heard that a sequel was being planned, one had grave qualms regarding the prospects of its triumph. Five minutes into the 2015 film and one realizes that things aren't as bad as one expected them to be; they are considerably worse!
What boggles me is the insanely exorbitant budget on which this film has been supposedly shot, (and I hope the reports are inaccurate), which makes it a sadly futile enterprise that has been built up on a wobbly basement. It's dejecting to see that kind of money go up in holy smoke, since none of the grandeur that it's supposed to bring in, flits across to the baffled audience.
The script is the biggest bummer in 'Samrajyam 2', if you do not consider the dialogues that come a close second. There is also an array of artistes in small and slightly bigger roles as villains, for whom acting is a serious challenge, and who clumsily make do with whatever limited skills they have been endowed with.
I am still at a loss to sense what exactly has been happening on screen for the seemingly never ending running time that the film has, and with smoke fuming out of my ears with all the gun shots and embarrassing stunts, deliberated quite a few times if I should call it quits before the show ended.
I did hang on till the very end however, and ardently hope that the film maker's next venture in Malayalam is backed with a solid screenplay for starters. The appalling length of the film, sequences that lack reason and motive and a consistent tone of tiresomeness that hovers around are a few other grounds that should keep viewers away.
My sympathies are totally with Unni Mukundan, who is an actor I really admire, and who has landed himself in this clutter of a film, the discomfiture of which is likely to stay on for a while. Akanksha Puri looks pretty, but that's as much as she gets to be in 'Samrajyam 2', and if you ask me, that itself should be regarded a fortune.
If you are still in doubt, I'd advise you to go grab that 'Samrajyam' DVD right now and have another go at it. Whet your appetite watching the elegant Alexander in action yet again, and let this snoozer of a sequel quietly run its predictably short course in the cinema halls.
MOVIE REVIEWS