Shylock Malayalam Movie

Feature Film | 2020 | UA | Action, Thriller | 2h 10min
Critics:
Audience:
'Shylock' is a typical formulaic film with mass appeal, and the invincible hero is in the midst of cliched events.
Jan 24, 2020 By K. R. Rejeesh

Where To Watch:
Streaming:
   Amazon Prime


The title of director Ajai Vasudev's latest directorial is inspired by the infamous usurer in Shakespeare's play 'Merchant of Venice'. In 'Shylock', Boss, played by Mammootty, is a moneylender with a dollop of sympathy towards struggling film producers, who borrow money from him. But Boss shows his irate face to the deliberate defaulters and the initial scene shows his encounter with one such cunning movie producer.


Ajai sticks to the stylish mass elements in the screenplay penned by writers Bibin Mohan and Aneesh Hameed, who are equally generous enough to exaggerate the deeds of Boss. The tale is stale and outdated so it never lets your prediction go wrong. The stylish ambience conveyed by Renadive's camera is apt in the first half but the Tamil milieu in the second half leaves you in utter despair. Boss arrives in Kochi with a purpose in hand. Along with his driver Ganapathy (Hareesh Kanaran) and Manager Balakrishna Panicker (Baiju), a failed film producer, Boss goes to meet another film producer Prathapa Varma (Kalabhavan Shajohn).


Since Prathapa Varma refuses to give the borrowed money, Boss creates problems on the sets of his film. Prathapa Varma and his friend Police Commissioner Felix John (Siddique) conspire a plot against Boss. The first half is totally dedicated to the charisma of Mammootty and his stylish appearance.


Post interval, the eventful past of Boss is revealed, still, the trite Tamil family sequences are not unfamiliar to us.


'Shylock' is a typical formulaic film with mass appeal, and the invincible hero is in the midst of cliched events. It has a feeble storyline mired in the disappointing craft. Barring his look, Mammootty is deprived of a solid content to perform in 'Shylock' and his aping of Tamil film dialogues fails to impress either. Albeit the ruckus is rampant, the characterisation of Boss is devoid of any soul as a result of the listless writing. Siddique's treacherous mien hardly brings any impact since it gives the feel of the repetition of such kind of roles. Veteran Tamil actor Rajkiran, who makes his Malayalam debut, gets ample screen presence to emote the conflict of a usurer.


The director is striving hard for compensating the shortcomings in the script by relying too much on the stylish factor of the actor. 'Shylock' lacks a solid content to provide a cosy place for its protagonist to perform. The female characters have very few lines to articulate while the whole action is about the revenge among Boss, Felix and Prathapa Varma. The background score by Gopi Sunder is uninspiring except in the initial scenes. Overall, it's a lacklustre attempt to creating a cinematic impact using a hollow substance.

K. R. Rejeesh

   

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