Under World, in my eyes, seemed like a pretentious gangster flick. It has the necessary elements that conventionally fit into gangster-film-territory, however, the writing (by Shibin Francis) and the packaging (by Arun Kumar Aravind) are underwhelming. It revolves mainly around four characters - Stalin John (Asif Ali), Solomon (Lal Jr.), Majeed (Farhaan Faasil), and Padmanabhan Nair (Mukesh), and a stash of cash worth 70 million USD. The 'how' and the 'why' behind these characters entering each other's lives has been written with a clear lack of conviction and therefore, the actors struggle themselves to put it all across in a convincing manner.
The film tries too hard to look and sound slick. Every interaction between characters forcefully comes with a punchy closing line (for what?) or a drastic change of expression (again, for what?). It's all serious business right from the opening credits all the way to the gory finale but Under World finds it very difficult to engage its viewers. The storyline is based on a one-liner: a politician in jail, a large sum of money, the near-psychotic partner-in-crime, and a couple of thugs who seize an opportunity that unexpectedly comes their way. The few (failed) attempts to introduce a tinge of comedy into the proceedings were downright pathetic.
The writing, without a doubt, needed more substance. Even with a proper backstory for Stalin, certain key elements centred around the character haven't been fleshed out. For instance, the reason for Stalin's lawyer, played by Muthumani (who's also the only woman character to get a good amount of screentime in the entire film), standing by him at all times, especially when he knowingly commits crimes, isn't elucidated. Majeed isn't very strongly written either, and Faasil seems to have had a hard time trying to exude the much-required ruggedness. Lal Jr. offers an interesting take on the psycho villain, but that it's his first on-screen acting attempt is highly evident. Asif Ali carries Stalin with a decent amount of flair, but the character doesn't have much to root for.
Coming to the technical aspects, the music and background score (by Yakzan & Neha) are okayish; the track played in the beginning was the only one I felt like checking out after the movie was over. The set-pieces are nothing out of the world (this is where a gangster film especially needs to stand out) and looked very plain-vanilla. The pacing, while deliberate, doesn't work in favor of the film, and at a butt-numbing 160 minutes, Under World is quite a tiresome watch. The final 15 minutes is probably the only interesting stretch but then, the film wraps up with hints of a sequel (I'm sure it won't happen!).
