Pulimurugan movie review

Pulimurugan opens with the mysterious death of a kid in a forest. Is the girl mauled by the tiger or taken by a cannibal? Enter a strange man in a black blanket, asking about the whereabouts of Murugan (Mohanlal). Without dragging the scene, director Vysakh cuts to a short flashback; we see Murugan's past.

Cast: Mohanlal, Kamalini Mukherjee, Jagapathi Babu, Lal and Kishore
Director: Vysakh
Rating: (2/5)

When Murugan's father is hunted by a tiger, he is survived by his two sons; Murugan and Manikuttan (Vinu Mohan). Murugan seeks blood for revenge and sets a trap with the support of his uncle Balaraman (Lal). A young Murugan kills the tiger with a boastful background score accompanying the act. Lo and behold, Murugan transforms to Pulimurugan (Tiger Murugan/ Leopard Murugan), who is now the protector of the village.

Set against the picturesque locales of Kerala, Pulimurugan chronicles the journey of Murugan, a tribal hunter who battles human-eating tigers in a forest called Puliyoor. Despite being a warrior in the forest, Murugan's innocence is exploited by Daddy Girija (Jagapathi Babu), who assures a formidable future to the former's brother. The plot unravels when Murugan smuggles ganja for Daddy Girija, followed by a sub-plot which shows only a fraction of the rivalry between Murugan and RK (Kishore), a forest ranger, who preys on the former's wife Maina (Kamalini Mukherjee).

Pulimurugan runs close to three hours, and the first part of the film soars high. Despite Mohanlal, the film offers prominence to characters like Balaraman, Poongayi Sasi (Suraj Venjaramoodu) and Maina. In that way, Pulimurugan is a win-win. Be it the scenes with Murugan and his nagging wife Maina or the comical portions with Sasi, Pulimurugan keeps the audience hooked to it in the first half. Suraj Venjaramoodu as Poongayi Sasi has to be credited here. The man tickles your funny bone quite often.

Considering the commercial liabilities, Pulimurugan would still have been a triumph for the director, had the crux of the film not been to depict Murugan's extraordinary skills to rub his shoulders with the tiger's. Some of the scenes have been purposefully written to enthral the troops of Mohanlal fans, and they work pretty well. The scene which makes way for the intermission has the stranger revealing himself as Daddy Girija, which piques our expectations and ushers us to a rather sulky second half.

The film loses its pace in the second half. It doesn't deliver the punch which the film projected in the first half. The director builds up the plot with Murugan's flashback. It works. However, it seems like he stayed a bit long.

Of course for Lalettan fans, it's but a feast for the eyes, especially when Murugan folds his lungi and beats the goons to pulp. There's another scene where Murugan sheepishly reads Manikuttan's name when the name board reads 'Marketing Manager'.

Arguably, the plot has loopholes. But Udayakrishna has managed to write an engaging screenplay, which was not expected after a misleading trailer.

Peter Hein, who has worked in films like Baahubali: The Beginning and Enthiran, has choreographed some breathtaking stunt sequences in the film. Though the fight sequences with the tiger and Murugan have been well-executed, one wonders if the film would come under the radar for portraying the already engendered species in a grey light.

Thankfully, Pulimurugan doesn't have the space for mood-killing songs. Gopi Sundar is the most promising find in recent years. Pulimurugan solely lies on its striking background numbers, and Sundar just upped the crescendo to the maximum.

With a patchy story, Mohanlal's charisma makes Pulimurugan an engaging yarn, but only in parts.

Thoppil Joppan Movie Review

STORY : A chronic bachelor from Thopramkudy, Joppan is a well-to-do achayan who turned an alcoholic after losing his lady love. He once meets a perky young girl and falls for her, and then on, a series of interesting episodes follow. 


REVIEW : Giving an ‘achayan flavour’ to dialogues, costumes and settings has been a popular tactic for comic relief in Mollywood for long, and for his latest film, Johny Antony too has tried the same formula. A popcorn entertainer with a decent storyline, however, 'Thoppil Joppan' isn’t a movie that fully depends on the cultural stereotypes alone, to say the story. Joppan and his cronies are all about kabbadi, alcohol and camaraderie and what you get to watch is vignettes from the protagonist’s love life. 

Joppan (Mammootty) is the typical ‘jubba-wearing,’ ‘cooling glass sporting’ strong-spined achayan, who drinks heavily to forget the pain of losing Annie (Andrea Jeremiah), the woman he loved. He stands up for his loved ones fearlessly, and his family is concerned about his devil-may-care attitude and drunkenness. He once meets a young girl named Maria (Mamta Mohandas) who reminds him a lot of Annie. But does he get to impress her? 

As always, Mammootty looks a true blue, handsome achayan in the film and he proves again that none else can outdo him when it comes to carrying off the role. His charisma upstages everyone else in the movie and when he makes an appearance in slow motion in the classic white-and-white ethnic avatar, you can’t help but be glued to every ounce of it on screen. An average, almost-predictable storyline also chugs alongside making the film an OK experience, but there’s nothing more to it that makes the film anything exceptional. 

When one discovers that Salim Kumar is also part of the movie, that too in a role with a lot of humour potential, expectations soar. However, like many films of the recent times, Thoppil Joppan also turns to some of our evergreen comedy dialogues – used in the films of the same actors in this movie, sadly – to spark fun. Since when is it that M-town turned so bereft of quality, original comic one liners? One can’t help wondering… Mammootty tries his hand a bit at shaking a leg, probably to generate some laughs, but doesn’t help much. Andrea doesn’t seem to be out of her Annayum Rasoolum mode yet and doesn’t get much space to perform. 

Predictably, Joppan can be easily endearing for the numerous all-embracing Mammootty fans and for the rest, it can be one of those boilerplate films with glimpses that remind you of films like 'Kottayam Kunjachan'.