8/10
True success is always cynical
20 November 2022
Going into the film, after hearing about the movie a lot and from the trailers, it seemed Vineeth was playing a hilarious sociopath and that was the part I was most apprehensive about. Even though I liked his role in Thanneermathan, I wasn't ready to watch a full-blown version of that throughout a movie, which would be unbearable and what I feared. But that wasn't the case here. Vineeth was brilliant and played the character to perfection, very different from anything we've seen him before.

Mukundan Unni is wickedly brilliant in his own way but the major problem along with his lack of empathy is the narcissism that always makes him overestimate himself. As a character, Mukundan Unni is pure evil, but his overestimation of himself makes him appealing. He is ready to put in the hard work but he doesn't see his flaws due to his narcissism and lack of empathy. So, even when his plans are logically right, it doesn't always work but he can form a new one right then and one or the other works out and if there is no luck there, there's actual luck that itself is a domino effect of his own past actions. All these aspects are seen through his own eyes and tight editing and a few cinematic techniques in the narrative keep you engaged throughout the affair. But giving such an evil character such heroic moments may get out of hand or even if it isn't, it's still an outlook from his point of view and that's why I loved how the movie ends. It clearly shows what is right and wrong to the audience and how we should be looking at evil even when it is pleasing to us and yet the voice-over narration by the protagonist tells the exact opposite of it.

Besides clearly positioning itself as a dark comedy through a sociopath, the film actually showcases a lot of legal and ethical issues in our society in detail.

One particular scene that is not directly related to any event in the movie but contains the whole theme of the movie, hell the whole concept of success in the world is when the character Meenakshi talks to Jyothi. To some, it would be just greed talking and they would have to face karma, to some, it would be a moment of motivation even if it is in a wrong sense but that dialogue is the truth about the world. I won't say what that dialogue is but another dialogue by Mukundan Unni, which is part of the trailers and promotions makes the perfect companion dialogue to it, "There are only two kinds of people in the world, those who get exploited and those who are exploiters."

Not including any songs, starting off with 4:3 aspect ratio, later changing to 16:9 and then finally filling the theater screen and then adding a post-credit scene that's perfectly in sync with the character, the director really knows what he's doing and the changing sensibilities among Malayali audience.
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