Crime thrillers are not that easy to construct, and in here, the makers just garnish the product with plot holes so as to make their job convenient and ours cumbersome.
Surya (Prithviraj) is a controlled explosion specialist working in the States. His family lives in Kerala and are currently trying to arrange a marriage for his kid sister. Call it fate, but Surya is forced to witness a heinous crime done to his family, through Skype. A livid Surya flies to India immediately and lays a plan with his survived step-brother Ajmal (Neeraj Madhav) and wife-hopeful Gayathri (Divya Pillai) to avenge the death of his family. But, who killed them? And why?
These are the questions Surya asks himself, but we as an audience know the answers already. So, the screenplay is sort of an anti-climax where things fall in place at the right time without space for mystery. The screenplay is experimentally non-linear where at one side, we have Surya running for his life, and on the other side, his flashbacks of a happy familial life. Director Joseph should be lauded for trying something new here, but should be condemned for serving such a cold recipe. The drama sequences in the first half look contrived, comedy is poorly written and enacted without diligence or intention, and the action sequences are like those roadside dogfights we see where barks is louder than the actual blows. The scenes are stitched together well, but are still ennui-inducing.
Viewers will have a "been there, done that" attitude while watching the second half as Surya goes from target A to target B, all in controlled planning. Reminds one of Raj Babu's intense thriller, Chess (2006) starring Kava Madhavan's second husband. One will recall scenes in other films as you continue watching the charade that happens on-screen. The cast is largely average in their portrayal. Prithviraj definitely needs to buck up in terms of acting as he is slowly going the typecast route. Menon is irritating in the same way he was in his own film which came out in 2015. Madhav and Pashupathi are fine, although the latter tried to look like a 20-year old hit-man when in reality he is 80.
Furthermore, the biggest turnoff that the film offers is the English dialogues. Atrocious is an understatement for the diction and delivery by the cast members as they use the world's universal language to converse with tepid control. Laughs are sure to come out when one hears the absurd sentences spoken by people like Balachandra Menon and V Jayaprakash. I'm not interested in why Joseph made them talk like that or who wrote those dialogues, but the fact is that Malayalam films have always been zero in this field. And if films expect to use this language considerably, they should learn to say it right.
All in all, playing ripoffs of Hans Zimmer in the background and showing close-ups of the lead actor so that we can see his teeth cavity as he jumps from walls and triggers explosions is not the best way to make a film. Makes one wonder whom to give credit for the 2013 hit film, Drishyam: Jeethu Joseph or Keigo Higashino.
BOTTOM LINE: Jeethu Joseph's "Oozham" is a shoddy creation made to cash in on the growing fame of the lead actor. It's just a collection of tidbits extracted from popular revenge dramas. Skim through when it airs on TV.
Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES
Surya (Prithviraj) is a controlled explosion specialist working in the States. His family lives in Kerala and are currently trying to arrange a marriage for his kid sister. Call it fate, but Surya is forced to witness a heinous crime done to his family, through Skype. A livid Surya flies to India immediately and lays a plan with his survived step-brother Ajmal (Neeraj Madhav) and wife-hopeful Gayathri (Divya Pillai) to avenge the death of his family. But, who killed them? And why?
These are the questions Surya asks himself, but we as an audience know the answers already. So, the screenplay is sort of an anti-climax where things fall in place at the right time without space for mystery. The screenplay is experimentally non-linear where at one side, we have Surya running for his life, and on the other side, his flashbacks of a happy familial life. Director Joseph should be lauded for trying something new here, but should be condemned for serving such a cold recipe. The drama sequences in the first half look contrived, comedy is poorly written and enacted without diligence or intention, and the action sequences are like those roadside dogfights we see where barks is louder than the actual blows. The scenes are stitched together well, but are still ennui-inducing.
Viewers will have a "been there, done that" attitude while watching the second half as Surya goes from target A to target B, all in controlled planning. Reminds one of Raj Babu's intense thriller, Chess (2006) starring Kava Madhavan's second husband. One will recall scenes in other films as you continue watching the charade that happens on-screen. The cast is largely average in their portrayal. Prithviraj definitely needs to buck up in terms of acting as he is slowly going the typecast route. Menon is irritating in the same way he was in his own film which came out in 2015. Madhav and Pashupathi are fine, although the latter tried to look like a 20-year old hit-man when in reality he is 80.
Furthermore, the biggest turnoff that the film offers is the English dialogues. Atrocious is an understatement for the diction and delivery by the cast members as they use the world's universal language to converse with tepid control. Laughs are sure to come out when one hears the absurd sentences spoken by people like Balachandra Menon and V Jayaprakash. I'm not interested in why Joseph made them talk like that or who wrote those dialogues, but the fact is that Malayalam films have always been zero in this field. And if films expect to use this language considerably, they should learn to say it right.
All in all, playing ripoffs of Hans Zimmer in the background and showing close-ups of the lead actor so that we can see his teeth cavity as he jumps from walls and triggers explosions is not the best way to make a film. Makes one wonder whom to give credit for the 2013 hit film, Drishyam: Jeethu Joseph or Keigo Higashino.
BOTTOM LINE: Jeethu Joseph's "Oozham" is a shoddy creation made to cash in on the growing fame of the lead actor. It's just a collection of tidbits extracted from popular revenge dramas. Skim through when it airs on TV.
Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES