Odiyan

I fail to understand the harsh criticism this movie has received so far. Is Odiyan extraordinary? No. But it is a really good family entertainer. The movie is loaded with interesting concepts, some fine acting by Mohanlal, visual treats and great stunts. It does drag in parts, but is definitely worth watching for the numerous positives it has to offer.

We have seen him rise from the water in Naran and Narasimham; in Odiyan too he does the same but this time by saving a drowning lady in his hands. Later on, he returns to his native village Thenkurissi after a long gap of 15 years and sits beneath a giant tree with a cup of tea. In an attempt to provoke him, a group of youngsters mocks him and challenges his abilities on Odividya and here come the age-old gimmicks one by one. His leg swirls like what he did before a fight scene in previous mass masala flicks; he then stands up and ties his long hair backward ( cut to Aaram Thampuran where he did the same with a slight difference of the hair been replaced by a red scarf), clubs his fingers together (copy paste shot in Yodha prior to an action sequence) and walks away pointing his index finger against opponents (replica mode of feudal heroism in Devasuram and Raavanaprabhu)! Mission accomplished??

Odiyan Manickyan is indeed an impactful character in Superstar Mohanlal's career but molded indistinctly by writer Harikrishnan and executed awfully by debutant director Shrikumar Menon. The non-linear mode of storytelling is brilliantly done by writer-director Vetrimaran with an engaging plot in recent Tamil hit Vada Chennai whereas, in Odiyan the screenplay itself is too shallow to be weaved in a similar manner and hence failed to evoke any interest in the narration. The first half goes on smoothly through the early life of Manickyan and it is delightful to see the physical transformation of Mohanlal to become the younger Manickyan aided with a chiseled body and acrobatic moves in the fight sequences. Hailing from a low caste faction, his loyalty towards urban childhood lover Prabha (Manju Warrier) is justified; but the concept of denying her love is an unwise decision, considering the stubborn Manickyan is over the top in every occasion tackling hurdles in his life.

The grey shaded Ravunni (Prakash Raj) is lustful for Prabha and does as many tricks as he can to get her in his life. He is from the upper caste community and surprisingly the only dark colored member in the high-class family! How come? The flawed script has the answer in a dialogue from Prabha to Ravunni, "Your mind is also dark like your body". Here the storyteller follows a mysterious path in convincing the antagonist as evil-minded via skin tone and at the same time Manickyan, born to a proletariat grass-root couple is exceptionally handsome with a glowing skin just because he is the protagonist! The writing is absurd and loosely bound; for instance, it took 15 years for Manickyan to track the assassin behind Prabha's husband whereas the viewers can easily figure out the culprit within first few minutes of the movie. Direction too fall flat in many occasions with the magical song "Kondoram" induced in the later half towards the climax thereby making the film more dilute and faded.

Furthermore, we have a tea shop owner Damodaran (Siddique) who is the feel-good companion of Manickyan for the appraisal in prime moments and a spirited Gopi Mash essayed by Innocent to glorify the devil-may-care acts of the central character (ditto of Kadutha in Puli Murugan). Packed with these bundle of cliches, Odiyan is a classic example of how a mediocre script evolves out if landed in the hands of an amateur director. By equipping the film with Hollywood technicians and marketing it as an out-of-the-box product, the ad-filmmaker-turned-director is solely accountable for the outburst of diehard Mohanlal fans. Not as dull as Neerali or not as monotonous as Drama, Odiyan is definitely a better outing from the superstar but not a complete package for the cinephiles to cherish.

Odiayan tells the story of Manikyan, the last of the Odiyan clan, who were infamous for manipulating darkness with their supposed sorcery to scare folks.

I have been fairly distant from Malayalam cinema off-late, not on purpose. The material the industry keeps churning out were less than impressive, a mere attempt to make some money.

I have been following Odiyan's journey since it was first announced and have been eagerly awaiting it. The premise seemed exciting and the cast was solid.

When the trailer arrived, I lost a little hope, I thought to myself, "is this another "mass" action flick that Aashirvad, Mohanlal and Anthony Perumbavoor are just trying to cash in on?" Nevertheless, I bought myself a ticket and sat down like the Lalettan fan I am for some masterful acting and a trip to a bygone era.

Sadly, Odiyan was a disappointment. There are glimpses of epic hiding here there and everywhere throughout the runtime, but an abundance of hero worshipping and dumbing down ruin the film.

I had watched an interview with Director V A Shreekumar recently where he described the first draft as a more classical approach with "light" as the villain. He goes on to say that How it was producer Anthony Perumbavoor who persuaded him to opt for an antagonist in human form for commercial purposes.

Mohanlal as always brings his A-game, not for a moment do you get hung up on his makeup and prosthetics. Manju Warier and Prakash Raj also give noteworthy performances, everyone else sadly is just apt. This is predominantly due to the fact that there wasn't room for their characters to grow.

The action sequences in the film have been getting much praise and it is very impressive and engaging, but at certain points, it stops fitting the time-frame and the narrative. Likewise, the visuals seem oversaturated and rather ill-fitting, this over-saturation transfers on to the night scenes, which seems to happen often in Malayalam films off-late. As a film where darkness plays a key role, you would think they would perfect it a little more. The soundtrack by Jayachandran is enjoyable, but it fails to impress.

Mohanlal and his teams need to start thinking about his future pictures as cinemas and stories rather than mere products that cater for all.

Odiyan is a much awaited movie in mollywood which is a very hyped movie in the career of Mohanlal. The reason for all the expectation about this movie came from the fact that director Sreekumar Menon described the movie as one of the best action thrillers ever came in this industry , he guaranteed top notch action scenes and superb vfx will be in the movie, a budget of around 35 crores for this movie also given expectations in the minds of the fans about the quality of this movie. But when movie released all those huge expectations were shattered.

Positives:

* The movie had a simple but convincing story which is closer to reality even though some obscure fantasy elements mixed in

*Performance from Mohanlal is especially good he has given an emotional portrayal of a person alienated and feared by almost everyone, Manju Warrier and everyone else also did their part well

*Nothing special to mention about action scenes but they were not bad could have been improved

*Camerawork was good, beauty of the village is captured well and night scenes required a bit more brightness but it was adjustable at most times

Negatives:

*Character of Prakash Raj in the villainous role was not convincing enough his intentions were cliched and his dubbing also felt out of place and lacked emotional impact

*Climax of the movie was not up to the mark, the action in the climax should have been better

*Slow pace for an action thriller is always a fun killer it was the case here also at least 20 minutes could have been trimmed to make the movie more fast paced and interesting

*Since the movie had big budget vfx should have been better but here most of the scenes felt as cheap and unconvincing

*Though the movie was labeled as fantasy/thriller both of these elements were very limited in the movie , Odiyan was more of an emotional drama

Conclusion:- Odiyan is an average entertainer which will be moderately satisfying to the viewers if they lower their expectations about the movie

Yes there was potential but an ambitious project like this needs skillful men behind this.With both the writer and director failing at their job its a collosal disappointment.

Expectations were lot from Peter Hein who rocked last time with Pulimurugan. But with an ordinary work he is also in the blacklist here.Even the much talked about 'Odi' scenes aren't convincing as most of them looks silly.

Coming to the cast all the roles are poorly etched apart from @Mohanlal and a talented protagonist material like Prakash Raj is offered a plastic character which is another flaw.

Technically the visuals are top notch and Sam's bgm work is commendable but the same cannot be said about editing which acts as a villain for the films non-linear narration.

And about the hero @Mohanlal , we all know how much effort and pain he has gone through for this project but in the wrong hands all of that goes in vain. But his appearance is one of the few positives in this weak film.