Oozham Malayalam Movie
It requires some very special effort to make a revenge saga appear amazing these days; and director Jeethu Joseph, armed with a hum-ho script and a storyline that is as decrepit as the ancient Roman empire, appears clueless in 'Oozham' as to how to keep his audience occupied.
Regardless of the countless explosions that 'Oozham' has in store, it strikes the viewer as little more than a mere mock drill that leaves nothing but some black smoke in its wake.
Surya (Prithviraj), an IIT passout who is employed in the US as a controlled explosions specialist, watches haplessly as his family back in India - comprising of his dad (Balachandra Menon), mom and younger sister - is ruthlessly murdered by a nameless gang. Seeking vengeance, Surya teams up with Aju (Neeraj Madhav) and Gayathri (Divya Pillai) to hunt down the master minds behind the murder of his dear ones.
Thematically, 'Oozham' springs no surprises, and one banks on a film maker as Jeethu Joseph to come up with something ground-breaking. After all, we have been reared on a staple diet of revenge dramas, and with benchmark films as 'New Delhi' that appeared a few decades back still ringing in our minds, it's only natural that you expect Jeethu to be original.
It's shocking hence when you see 'Oozham' take the much beaten path, and does not, for a moment amaze you with its inventiveness. I still don't remember a scene in the film that reminds you that this is being directed by the director of 'Drushyam', though I do realize that it wouldn't probably be fair on a film maker to expect him to live up every time to the hype that a former blockbuster had left around.
Jeethu recounts the story in frequent flashbacks, with an over elongated fight sequence forming the narrative base of the film. So we have the hero being chased by a bunch of ruffians which goes on and on, every now and then jerking back to a flashback. After a point, the whole cat and mouse run turns comical, with the 'realistic' action it being glumly choreographed.
There are also inflated talks galore of CCTV surveillance, white hat hacking, email monitoring, and what not, with explosions with appalling graphics, at regular intervals. What isn't there, are the shocker moments that would make a film as this exciting, or a plot that would make you go gaga over it.
It would forever remain a wonder as to how the film maker himself was convinced that a very run of the mill storyline as the one in 'Oozham', would astound an audience. With neither an exceptional idea nor the necessary machinations to overcome its lack of uniqueness, 'Oozham' is generic and weakly executed.
I have probably not seen Prithviraj wasted in a film in recent times, as much as he is in 'Oozham', and there are supporting actors aplenty - Balachandran Menon, Neeraj Madhav, Pasupathy and Jayaprakash - none of whom can salvage the film from the terrible depths to which it has fallen. There is very little that is inspiring when it comes to the technicalities as well.
'It's only a matter of time', whispers Surya into the phone, and Wilfred at a later point states it back to him. And for the exasperated viewer as well, the statement holds true, as they wait for the ordeal to be over, mumbling to themselves the Sufi saying that this too shall pass.