A series of murders. A link to the past. Investigation by Kerala Police. Lots of twists. Intense Crime drama.
The return of Suresh Gopi as CI Abraham Mathew Mathan aka Paappan. He did make a comeback in 2020 after a 5 year hiatus with VARANE AVASHYAMUNDU. So this is his second comeback. A revelation that is Neeta Pillai. She debuted with Poomaram in 2018, alongside Kalidas Jayaram. I haven't watched that movie. But I sort of liked her in Abrid Shine's movie "Kung Fu Master". I read that she did a year of training for her action role in that movie. But I loved her in Paappan. Terrific perfomace as ASP Vincy Abraham IPS & Paappan's daughter. And always a welcome change to see a female cop leading the investigation and story. Thrilling music/bgm by Jakes Bejoy though at times it did feel too loud. Visually pleasing cinematography by Ajay David Kachappilly. And superb direction by the one and only Joshiy. He proves time and time again why he is still relevant after directing movies for 44 years! And he is one director who knows how to manage lots of actors/characters in one movie. Another Director who excels/exceled in that was I. V Sasi. This movie has a lot of characters, most of them well placed, well thought of and well acted. No wonder that a movie like "2020", that had almost all the actors from Malayalam cinema was also directed by Joshiy! Not saying that it was a perfect movie. But it was a celebration of cinema!
As it's a suspense thriller, I won't get too much into the specifics. The movie it took it's own sweet time and that bothered me. A 170 mins runtime could have been trimmed quite a bit to increase the pacing. The elaborate story and characters does need the time but it still did test my patience a few times. And I honestly felt that Suresh Gopi wasn't utilized to his maximum potential. Obviously there was nothing here to showcase his stellar acting chops but his screen presence with a new found salt & pepper look did make up for it to a extent. As an experienced ex cop, he did pull his weight around. A commanding presence on screen. Thankfully the long boring monologue contests of yesteryears wasn't used here and that was a big relief. I also wished he would have lost a little weight/hit the gym, as an extra effort by him can be seen in the action scene. Though he and Nyla Usha looked good together, the added weight did not justify his look in the flashbacks as a younger person. I say this with utmost respect to the actor. When you see how an older Mammootty tries to maintain his looks and physique, you wonder why SG cannot!
The supporting cast did their parts well, as I mentioned before. Among them Asha Sharath as Dr. Sherly and Shammi Thilakan as Iruttan Chacko stood out. Gokul Suresh Gopi did not have much to do, other than be SG's foster son Michael and sidekick but whatever was given to him, he did it well. Nyla Usha is a very good actress but she was also under utilised here. She didn't have much to do other than a few scenes of being Paappan's wife Nancy Abraham. She was excellent in the title character of Mariyam in Joshiy's last movie prior to this one, "Porinju Mariam Jose". So was Kaniha's character. Small role but did good. Another veteran actress Maala Parvathi too had a small role as Doctor Radhika Menon and she did well too. I am not mentioning about a few other actors as this is a suspense movie. And it's been only a few days since it's release.
Though Paappan overstayed it's welcome and was a bit exhausting at times, it was still an enjoyable & gripping suspense thriller. There are times when Suresh Gopi takes a back seat and it's a Neeta Pillai show all the way and then there are times when SG steps in and takes over. It's not in the league of some of the other great thrillers that came out earlier or in recent times but leave it to Joshiy to satisfy the audience one way or the other. He knows the pulse of today's audience and he still has 90s nostalgia eteched in his mind as we can see flashes of 90s movie making combined with today's sensibilites at times. No complaints here! Give it a watch. You will be invested from the get-go. Enjoy!
