Fresh from the big hit of last year `Run Baby Run', senior hit maker Joshy's coming together with the master of suspense thrillers, S N Swamy was expected to be a handsome offer for this January. But this thriller movie fails to excite as the material in offer is so much tried and tested, with been-there-seen-that kind of situations that, you lose attention after a point. Lokpal' has Mohanlal as Nandagopal, with a tainted past , who is currently running a cafe , a hangout for families . But he also is a socially committed fighter of human rights ala `Kayamkulam Kochunni', who secretly and lonely does some big burglary of huge funds, mostly black money received as bribes by the men walking easily through the corridors of power. Nandagopal masquerades in fancy dresses and uses the best of the techniques to seize the money that is circulating between big names including politicians, businessman and bureaucrats. Add to this single thread is the protagonist's past spent in juvenile home, a lady doctor who was in waiting for him for long and a website and blog that this `Lokpal' is running to get clues about the wrongdoing around him. Taking clues from films ranging from `Four the people', and Kalikkalam, to Shivaji, and Annyan, It's an ordinary screenplay by S NS Swamy relying on the customary masala to make things work, that does the damage. With plenty of pitfalls and much more carelessness and shoddy making, the director and scripter seems to have been stripped off their genius tag while attempting these kind of films. But when you cast actors of such calibre like Lal and Kavya, you can't afford to go for the tried and tested stuff. With their share of experience, the makers got to be innovative, walk the untraded path and defy the norms. which, unfortunately, Lokpal doesn't. Joshy has filmed a couple of sequences well, but no actor or director, howsoever talented he is, can reinvigorate and strengthen a weak screenplay. Dialogues are ordinary and so are the action and heist sequences which are surprisingly thoughtless. . And the attempts to amuse the views with various dialects of Thrivuvananthapuram (Shammi Thilakan) and Thrissur(Saikumar) falls flat and appear a mimicry as both the actors fails to live up to the standards set by others in using these slangs. Mohanlal tries to be in the skin of the character that doesn't demand much. But he himself look pale and disinterested with the role that offers him nothing special. Kavya looks good but her dubbing looks surprisingly outsink with the mood of the flick, that receives much of the booing. Meera Nandhan and T G Ravi are the saving graces of the movie with their smaller roles. The visuals by Pradeep Nair are fine and the editing by Shyam Sasidharan tries the level best to keep it moving. But at times, the movies get into stillness and find it hard to engage. The song `Maya' by Rathesh Vega is foot tapping, but the lyrics of the rest of the songs are immature.
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