Corona Papers

I will not review, just offer some bullet Points:

(1) The title 'Corona Papers' has absolutely no bearing or relevance with the movie.

(2) Priyadarshan - perhaps for the first time in his long career - has attributed the story idea to the original source movie ('Stray Dogs')!

(3) Priyadarshan has moved out of his comfort zone, viz., comedy - but its not necessarily an improvement.

(4) A very long movie lasting more than 2.5 hours - with too many characters, multiple sub-plots and convoluted logic. In fact, felt quite relieved when the movie finally ended. Some of the characters, scenes, sub-plots could/should have easily been edited out - and movie would have felt better and tighter.

(5) Siddique, the key character in the movie, shines as usual. His character has an arc, maybe the only one doing so.

(6) Was saddened to see the beloved and talented Judge PP Kunhikrishnan from 'Naa thaan case kodu' wasted in an insignificant and irrelevant role.

(7) Maniyanpillai Raju appears in a blink-and-you-miss-it role! Too bad!

Corona Papers is a 2023 Malayalam crime thriller film directed by Priyadarshan. The film stars Shane Nigam, Shine Tom Chacko, Siddique, and Lal Jr. It is a remake of the 2017 Tamil film 8 Thottakal.

The film tells the story of a police officer who is on the trail of a gang of thieves who have looted a huge amount of money during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film is set in the backdrop of the pandemic and explores the themes of greed, crime, and justice.

Priyadarshan's direction is one of the highlights of the film. He keeps the pace of the film taut and suspenseful, and he does a great job of building up the tension. The film also has some excellent performances from its cast, with Shane Nigam and Shine Tom Chacko particularly stand-out.

However, the film does have a few flaws. The plot is a bit predictable, and the film's ending is a bit anticlimactic. Overall, Corona Papers is a well-made crime thriller that is worth watching for its suspenseful plot and excellent performances.

The title "Corona Papers" sounds so intimidating and captivating but the movie was long, long, and even longer than it needed to be without heading in a particular direction. What a missed opportunity to make something grand!

DELICIOUS

-Let's start by appreciating just how handsome Shane Nigam looked, that haircut was very elegant. Siddique, Lal Jr and Gayathrie also looked refined!

-We love Shine Tom Chacko, we'll watch him any day any time; though he didn't have a big role, he still managed to leave an impression

-The cinematography worked well; Divakar Mani was intentional about the way he shot the characters to give us more insight about their feelings and personalities. The color grading was on point, it emphasized the dark, evil aura prevailing in the atmosphere

BLAND

-The big problem with Corona Papers was that it included A LOT of characters and wasn't heading straight to the point, making it long

There were many stories with many new characters. To the point that around 40-50 min into the movie, we were still wondering where we were going. Priyardashan, at times, has the tendency to bite more than he can chew, like he did in his Hindi movies (e.g. Bumm Bumm Bole, Katha Meetha)

This story actually starts from a car theft which later on goes to a brutal unjustified encounter by a corrupt police women without investigating the real culprits and cause of the case and killing a person. Later on theft of a pistol carries a whole story in which robbery, murder, crimes are also involved. The mistakes of a person are burdened to irrelevant people which makes the movie more interesting. Actors performance are classical in their roles leading to a best unpredictable ending bringing justice to a person who was affected the most by the police women fake encounter of his dad and himself.

Even though, people are claiming to be a copy of 8 Thottakal I dont feel a lot of resemblances to it. Amidst all the pressure that Shane has been going through he did a good job and that deserves a big round of applause from my side.

Priyadarshan, I know this is a plot that you've got from some other industry/film but the fact that you connected it with kerala's politics is a must watch! The title got me wondered! As a person who saw this film without any expectation, I feel it was worth my time.

Congrats to whole cast and crew. I am expecting another set of thrillers from the cast and team.

Once again, Mollywood is growing!!!