After the big dud `Kandahaar' , director Major Ravi famous for his patriotic and war movies is back with his new flick `Karmayodha'. A take on the flesh trade and human trafficking that has been in full wing in the dirty lanes of the country, `KarmaYoddha' except from a noble cause ends up as a movie that fails to live up to the expectations of the lovers of Lal films or action thrillers either. The only highlight of the movie seems to be the pace in which it is narrated which largely hurdles over the other big blemishes in the making.
The movie has Mohanlal as Mad Maddy, ala Madhavamenon, a DCP with the Maharashtra police. A fearless officer he is, Maddy is notorious for ruthless acts against criminals, killing them most of the times brutally. A efficient shooter he is, Maddy is now after the anti social elements who are controlling the flesh trade network in Mumbai. Maddy gets embroiled in such a case as the daughter of Arathy (Asha Sharath) also gets kidnapped while waiting for her mother on the road side at Mumbai. When similar events happen across the country with a number of young girls getting abducted, things gets a little personal for Madddy, who jumps on a Mercedez and follow the sophisticated containers that transfer the abducted girls to the foreign ships waiting in the international sea lines near Thuthukuddy. And down south he has got plenty of supporters in S I Balachandran (Mukesh), Manu (Bineesh) and his friends who are also finding clues for their missing sister.
The biggest pitfall of `Karmayoddha' is that Lal is again cast in another superhero role with plenty of scenes to boost his heroism. He takes on the worst of the criminal's single handedly with just a revolver for his own guard. With a lot of scenes that defy logic, most of the action that takes place in the plot is captured without finesse that has been the hallmark of action scenes of Major Ravi's earlier flicks. An investigative thriller devoid of thrills and 'clues' that seldom follow anything apart the regular `mobile waves and towers', the poor dialogues written for the lead hero also is a big handicap.
But since the most versatile actor of our time Mohanlal is at the helm, thinks are not that sober. He once again induce real meat into an average screenplay and takings, with his silent stares and intense body language. Lal has tried his level best to shoulder the responsibility of pushing of the movie which centers mostly on him, without much halts. The editor Don Max lends optimum support in cutting away the unwanted bits, pacing up the proceedings with all that `rampi'ing and calling the end at 123 minutes. But still there are plenty of loose ends and poor shots that could have been eliminated. As usual, family scenes and melodrama are not an area of excellence for this Major who even works with the aid of a co-director to surpass his limitations. None of the songs in the movie set to music by M G Sreekumar are pleasing enough. But the heavy BG scores by Jeffrey Jonathan, which is jarring at times, add the needed tempo to the shots by Pradeep Nair. All other experienced actors including Asha Shareth, Binesh kodiyeri, Mukesh and Saikumar just play to their roles while the relatively fresher's are miscast in most of the roles, agonizing the output.
In the final count, this Karmayodha may satisfy the die-hard Mohanlal fans. And the collections may pour in for the first few days and for the rest, no guarantees can be made... Rating 6/10 |
