Loham

Curiosity was high based on the peculiar title. Also, it was highly anticipated as the return of the hit Ranjith-Mohanlal combo during Onam. However, movie disappoints in many levels.

The subject is relevant and based on gold smuggling. But the movie progresses with many characters and a confusing screenplay without focusing on the actual subject. We are introduced to the main plot post interval, by then its all too familiar for us.

Mohanlal is in top form, and can be the sole reason to watch it once. He shines as the simpleton driver raju in the first half and then the mustache twirling familiar lalettan we wished to see post interval. But thats still not enough to save this film.

Ranjith, a prominent director, seems to be losing his touch. By turning his hands at both realistic (Paleri Manikyam) and mass commercial (Ravanaprabhu/Pranchiyettan) movies, Loham becomes a mess at neither being realistic or mass, quiet a forgettable movie. We wait for the old Ranjith movie magic.

In Loham what we could see is Ranjiths's(writer and director) intention to come back to genre of action thrillers after the much acclaimed "Ravanaprabhu" and "Devasuram".Though he tried to portray an incident which has some social significance, the ideas that he meant to convey felt scattered.The movie attempts to hold its scattered ideas with a blend of typical Mohanlal clichéd dialogues and facial expressions.(though I like them personally:D)But somehow the commercial and serious aspects of the movie are not clubbed very well, so that sometimes we lose the connection.The director desperately tries to bring in many major twists during the course of the movie but it too felt a bit overused and drab.Viewed critically, the movie attempts to scrutinize the corrupt individuals(both political and administrative) who are actually the wrongdoers,destroying the society. Ranjith tries to display the old and energetic Mohanlal in this movie,but it felt a bit old fashioned. Despite the inappropriate scenes,Loham is an OK movie, if you are a lover of Mohanlal's dramatic action thrillers.

Loham starts with the coffin of a Malayalee laborer being sent from the Gulf to Kozhikode airport. Subsequently, Mohanlal makes his entry as a taxi driver picking up a lady passenger at Kochi airport. In parallel to that Siddique (great acting, as always) is shown gambling with a partner in a hotel in Kochi. Thus, At least 3 streams of stories flow in parallel without giving much of a clue, before merging together.

The movie looked promising in the first 30 minutes with some good acting by Mohanlal, Siddique and others, but then new characters started parading in and diluted the whole movie and made it too complex with too many twists. Complexity was OK if it was woven right. It seemed like the director lost control of the plot too.

It is an OK movie that you can watch till end, but not one to make any mark beyond that.