10.30 am Local Call Malayalam Movie
'10.30 am Local Call' is what you would call an everyday thriller, that lacks quite a few things, implausibility being one of them. At the core of it lies a very vital issue as woman abuse, but the treatment leaves a lot to be desired.
'10.30 am Local Call' starts off with Alby (Nishan) making a spree for his life, with flashbacks haunting him while on the run. Happily married to a radio jockey Ann (Mridula Murali), Alby has just been selected employer of the year, and heads the marketing division of a car dealer. At the office, he bumps into old flame Nimmy (Sritha Sivadas) and drops her his number, in case she feels like calling him.
'10.30 am Local Call' does manages to hold its pieces together until about the interval, when Alby receives the first call from an unknown number, claiming that he would have to act according to the caller's whims if he is to live. It's a drop down, from that point onwards, as the story takes a plunge into predictable territory.
The love tale that it attempts to tell is rather unconvincing, in that except for a song that has Alby following Nimmy all around, there is little happening that makes you feel that the couple is truly in love. Which is why, you are the least surprised, when you hear that they had parted and gone their separate ways.
Questions, shouldn't be asked when it comes to stories, and yet there are plenty of queries that spring to your mind while watching the film. Some of them are answered as the film winds to a close, while some of them hang around, mid-air.
At some point eventually, the film does make you think of 'Masters', the Johny Antony film that was released last year, not on account of the similarity in their story lines, but because of the initial level of suspense that is maintained. However, that '10.30 am Local Call' soon collapses into conventional rubble is another matter altogether.
As the truth dawns on us, we realize that much of it has ended up as we had expected it be. No surprises in store here, as we would say, and the few twists that it throws on your face are as cold as they can be. Neither does the pain feel real, nor does the agony that the lead characters go through. And yet, one should admit that it does make all the efforts that it can.
Nishan almost repeats his 'EAK' act in '10.30 am Local Call', and is quite convincing as the young man in distress. Of the lady leads, Mridula Murali makes an impact, though her role turns out to be nothing to crow about. On the other hand, Sritha Sivadas looks quite unconvincing as Nimmy, and needs to really work on her wardrobe.
If only life were as uncomplicated as the snap that Nimmy and Ann click on their mobile phones, their lips stretched into a broad smile! '10.30 am Local Call' lacks the very vital element of a thriller - that of a persuasive ground that would put in the final piece and complete the puzzle. And without it, the rest of it falls apart in no time.
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