Top actors are often accused of playing safe, hardly venturing beyond the carefully constructed matrix of image. Only seldom they try to experiment or do roles that go farther than their traditional ken.
After seeing Dileep's Runway you understand the reasons for them. This big-budget action genre is a new one for Dileep, cast as he is mostly in a boy-next-door kind of roles. At the end of it all, you almost feel: 'it is better if Dileep had preferred to play a role that he is comfortable with'. Dileep is also let down by a tepid script and some loose direction from the veteran Joshy.
Having said all this, Runway also has its tender moments. The film revolves around Unni (Dileep) who dupes his family that he is working in Gulf but in reality involved in the illegal spirit business with Bhai (Murali). Unni runs errands for the terrorizing Chinnadan (Riyaz Khan) in Valayar area. Unni, however, is forced to tell about his other side to Gopika (Kavya Madhavan) who his mother is insistent that he should marry. Things come to a head when Unni's brother (Indrajeet) becomes a police officer. As it happens, he is honest and tough-as-nails and gets posted in the Valayar area where, by now, Unni and Bhai have become big-time operators. And not surprisingly, with his brother breathing down his neck, Unni wants to turn a new leaf. Is it possible for him to shed the all-reaching tentacles of the underworld? Will the baddies of the underworld allow him to change? The rest of the film is all about that.
Dileep, as Unni, is first-rate, especially when he builds stories about how things are 'back in Gulf'. Those are typical Dileep stuff. But as the operator among criminals, Dileep looks a misfit as he neither has the stature (in the physical sense) or nor the oozing menace. But he plods on manfully. Kavya, as his ladylove, passes muster. But her role is too brief. The standouts of the film are however Indrajeet and Murali. Both revel in their characters; Indrajeet in particular as the policeman (shades of Shashi Kapoor in Deewar) is positively brilliant.
The music by Suresh Peters is contemporary but lacks the feel. The film has also been shot in scenic locations like Phuket (Thailand). But they look like needless ostentation. Joshy, the director lets slips opportunities as he treads the masala movie path.
Runway, on the whole, fails to take-off.
