MALIK - REVIEW

Malik is a Malayalam language Political Crime Drama directed by Mahesh Narayanan, the man behind other Malayalam movies like C U Soon and Take Off. Mahesh is not just the director but also the screenwriter and editor of this film. The opening scene of Malik is a long take which is a visual treat, and Sanu Varghese, who is the cinematographer, deserves appreciation for that. The opening scene does the perfect job of setting up the tone and premise of the film. It introduces Sulaiman Ali aka (Malik) - a godfather-like figure whose glory days are in the past and is suffering from too much grief and has been through a lot, and it's told through his body language. The word Malik loosely translates to the king and which pretty much defines the character of Sulaiman Ali. Suliaman Ali / Alikka is a local gangster and smuggler who looks after the people of Ramadapally(A fictional coastal area in the Thiruvanthapuram district), and in return, they love him and respect him like a king. The film explores Ali's past through the eyes of three narrators who are closely related to Ali and explain how he ended up in the current predicament. The film toys with the idea of a man(Ali) paying for his sins and asks the audience to judge him.

Fahadh Faasil played the role of Sulaiman Ali beautifully. He owned that role and stole every scene. He understood the crux of the character, and it shows in his performance. Overall, everyone in the film gave a top-notch performance. The story is very original, and there are hidden meanings and themes. It is well written, layered, and lands the ending perfectly. It's not another mindless origin story of a gangster.

The editing is one of the best things about the film. There is a scene in which CGI is used to create the sea effect surrounding an underwater vehicle. It is barely noticeable, and thanks to the editing, the camera angle changes before we can notice the CGI sea. Another scene shows Narayan Murthy's exceptional editing skills. The scene involving the infamous Tsunami from the year 2004 and its after effect. There are plenty of examples like that in the film.

Moving on to the issues in the film, it's mostly nitpicking. And, the first issue being differentiating the different eras of Ali's past. Makeup and costume can only help to a certain extent to achieve that effect. Had the director used different color grading or perhaps different camera for each decade would have helped to distinguish different eras.

There are scenes in the film which prove that the director loves movies like The Godfather and Goodfellas. Honestly, I don't think there is any director who doesn't admire The Godfather and Goodfellas. I guess it's his way of paying homage to those movies.

I highly recommend to watch this movie.

To watch the full movie click on the link: https://amzn.to/3eZyRug

SCORE: 8.5/10