Monster Malayalam Movie
Everything in director Vysakh's Monster is cringeworthy. One would cringe while watching Mohanlal perform the role of Lucky Singh, a Keralite who lived for a long time in Punjab and owns a chain of restaurants there. For an experienced Punjabi, Lucky Singh speaks Punjabi clumsily and makes crass one-liners and double-meaning jokes about women and marriage. He keeps telling random girls that he is a bachelor, which seems to be a trend that continues from Aaraattu. So what if he is a bachelor? Is he the only bachelor in the world? The only few Punjabi words he knows include "Mere Naal" and "Soni Kudi."
The way he treats his cab driver, Bhamini (Honey Rose), would be enough to make any cabbie despise him. Still, Honey Rose's character has to bring Lucky home to her husband and child for a special occasion due to her business relationship with him. What happens to the family after Lucky's visit to their home forms the crux of the plot.
Monster has a wide range of plot twists. Nothing in it seems to be the same as it appears. It seems like there is a twist or two in every plot element. However, writer Udayakrishna fails to mine his twists into a series of logical and plausible plot elements. It is hard to discuss this film without giving away the plot, because Vysakh's storytelling style is plot-intensive. Therefore, I am not delving into any of those tiny details here.
Making a thriller with a mediocre script is bad enough. It is worse to make an irresponsible film with the same bad script. The idea that the film advocates at the end for the LGBTQ+ community is an all-time low for Malayalam cinema. Not every film can become inclusive, but at least you can write your plot in a way that does not do a disservice to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, queers, and others.
It is odd, because there is an attempt from the makers to normalize the LGBTQ+ community, but it ends up having a counterproductive effect. In other words, it will only stigmatize the community.
What else can I tell you about a movie that fails on so many levels that it is unbelievable? Let us talk about the fight choreography for a change. When Mohanlal easily jumps his way up through the railings and other elements of a staircase, you cannot help but cringe at it. Mohanlal is a veteran and cannot be all that acrobatic, which is understandable. He is also flexible enough for his age, but it seems like this movie is his dress rehearsal for a new Desi Superhero parody role. It is hardly the actor's fault that he mainly gets to do these roles of late. He brings an unbridled sense of energy to the Sikh character, but it is misguided. As an ardent fan of his old movies, I felt bad for him.
While Honey Rose overacts in a lot of scenes, she at least plays her part with sincerity. Lena is no stranger to the role of a no-nonsense cop, but she does her part with the utmost conviction too. On the other hand, Lakshmi Manchu and Sudev Nair walk away with respectable performances in half-decent roles.