Rahul’s post made me want to watch the recent Malayalam film Mumbai Police. I have been carefully avoiding big starrers for a while, only watching films that came to me through suggestions from friends and all. Also, Malayalam films rarely get released in Hyderabad. And, if they do, they come on the weekends in Prasad’s screens, making it a 30 km ride for me.
Mumbai Police is a thriller. That is the minimum of a generic description anyone can make. It is the presentation of the story and the brave attitude that wins the accolades for this film. The age old principle that a good script is a film half-made is worth mentioning here because the screenplay by Bobby and Sanjay is one crucial element that helps the film from slipping off into the usual plains of boredom and lagging. The story revolves around three cops; Anthony Moses (Prithviraj), Farhan Ashraf (Rahman) and Aaryan John Jacob (Jayasuriya). Together they are nicknamed by the media as ‘Mumbai Police’ due to their short stint in the Q division of Maharashtra Police before joining Kerala cadre. During a ceremonial function Aaryan John Jacob gets shot resulting in his death and the burden of investigation falls on to Anthony Moses. The rest is a fast-paced thriller that gets the viewer through sudden and shocking revelations from the lives of the three officers.
Hats off to Director Rosshan Andrrews for his guts to do a story with overt homosexual overtones and as an actor Prithviraj has done a brave thing by doing such a role in a film industry that is deeply orthodox and unadventurous when it comes to new themes. Despite the general homophobia of the public, the film seems to be receiving good reviews. Hoots and whistles rose up from the homophobes in the hall during the climax and one need not say that we have a lot more to go before we achieve certain kind of tolerance level.
The background score deserves a special mention because this is probably one of the few movies that had a BGM that lingered in my mind even after leaving the hall.
Besides Prithviraj, Rahman and Jayasuriya, Kunchan is the only actor that deserved any special mention. Aparna Nair had not grown out of her usual eye-candy roles that stereotypes women of a certain social stature. The debutant Rohit seemed a little comical in his role as a cop assisting with the investigation, who has to muscle up whenever the camera faces him. His salutes were a source of laughter and his face resembled that of someone trying hard not to cry out in pain due to some unseen wound.
Guys, it is a film worth watching for. Thanks Rahul, for suggesting this.
My verdict: 3.5/5
Watch it for a change.
- Manu
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