Action Hero Biju was among the most anticipated Malayalam movies in the recent times that generated huge pre-release buzz unlike any other mollywood movie in some years,even outside the state,being the immediate release of Nivin Pauly after the all-time-block-buster 'Premam' and the second directorial venture of Abrid shine who tasted both critical and commercial success with '1983'.The songs,second set of posters and theatrical trailer changed the total outlook about the film from being an action thriller to a realistic drama and naturally the hype was reduced to an extent,but somehow didn't reflect in the theatrical release that's huge considering the availability of screens for a Malayalam film in the present scenario.
"A Ride With A Police Officer" - the tag-line sums up the 145 minutes of narration that portrays the life of a normal police officer (played by Nivin Pauly) whom we may have met or might meet at least once in our lifetime.The character S.I Biju Paulose may look familiar to a good share of the audience and reminds us of ordinary policemen who are far from the larger than life cinematic depictions that we have come across in numerous films in the past.
Almost 75% of the movie have been shot inside the police station and a large number of petty cases are interpreted in between and how our protagonist Biju deals with these cases forms the crux of the storyline.
There are numerous moments to laugh and enjoy in the first half and the screenplay by Abrid Shine and Muhammad Shafeeq could succeed in taking the storyline forward well until it lost the grip some minutes into the second half where the narration lost its pace distastefully.On the positive side,Abrid managed to regain the lost drive in narration with course of time upto an extent and end the film on a passable,if not satisfactory note.Still,the fact remains that a better second half could have made this an altogether better cinematic experience.
In a way the movie is presented as a tribute to all the heroic police officers in the department who are willing and ever-ready to serve the needy,being a sign of hope that's always with and for the common people.Additionally a large number of socially relevant issues are touched and the social commentary involved went well even though a large number of dialogs felt preachy and defenseless due to the voice modulation of Nivin that doesn't suit that of a strict police officer that he is.
Nivin Pauly was good in the role of Biju,but couldn't work wonders like in Premam here as his voice failed to match the authority of the dialogs and it felt as if this might limit his decision to experiment with different genres and to handle more powerful characters with depth unlike the ones he has presented till now.Anu Emmanuel comes in 3-4 scenes and was totally wasted.The show-stealer in the movie was Suraj Venjaramood who gave a mind-blowing act even though his role was minimal-a testimony on his range of acting indeed! Joju George,Kalabahvan Shajon etc and a large number of débutant actors did their part well except a few who were struggling on their first attempt.
Rajesh Murugesan failed to produce matching backgroundscore for the movie and this affected the flow of the narration in at least a couple of situations.Songs by Jerry Amaldev were okayish,but a more youthful soundtrack could have suited the storyline better.Editng and Cinematogrpahy by Manoj and Alex.J.Pulikal were good.
Overall,Action Hero Biju is an average cop-drama with realistic narration that wont disappoint you if you go without huge expectations.
