Gold

Let me start by saying that I didn't have expectations even though my group did. That's because Alphone Puthren had raised his bar through Neram and Premam, a movie that created a wave in Kerala and started a new phase in Malayalam cinema. The goodwill that Puthren and crew created pulled me towards the movie, and I am disappointed. Not with the movie, but with the fact that he has ruined his own filmography.

Coming to the movie, the best way of putting it is by wondering what this movie was actually about.

A lot of characters introduced just for the sake of it, probably to give the feel of a star studded movie.

Plain boring. That's it.

"Java is simple!" Who can forget the Java instructor and his class room - in Premam? When George fell in love with Malar it was not just George but a whole generation of youngsters who fell in love with her; and when she lost her memory, we all cried along with him. Each scene in Premam, each character - including the silent (and dialogue-less) lover rang a bell in our hearts and memories.... and from that Director comes something as inane and meaningless as Gold, where not a single character, scene or dialogue remains in our memory or touches our heart! I am simply stupified!

Ater watching the latest outing from Alphonse Puthrans, the only charitable explanation I can think of is that he has lost his marbles. Nothing else will justify the total nonsense he has trotted out in the form of a movie.... We all have seen many escapist fare but this takes the cake for being the most absurd movie ever.

To begin with, the whole thing hangs on a wafer thin story. Second it's filled with too many cartoonish - but not funny - characters, without a single one of them showing even a spark of intelligence. A hero who punches people without any rhyme or reason, contract goondas who run away at his sight, a cop investigating a strange unknown vehicle without even the sense to note down its registration number, a rich jewellery owner who does not give a second thought about 200kg of gold that his men misplaced, a girl who simply sits and watches TV all day, waiting to marry an idiot whose pauperised father wants to blow up the mall that his son is getting in dowry, and random people who perform group dance without any reason and a director who makes you watch boring things in endless repeatition expecting you to hold your breathe in anticipation........ in short that's Gold for you!

God alone knows what Prithvi, Nayantara - I presume her's was a guest appearance - are doing in this movie, let alone the other equally talented actors wasting their talents - and our time - in a mockery of a movie?

My rating: 2 stars.

If we could all look beyond the overall quality of this movie, at least everyone could agree that Alphonse Puthren is trying something new and he deserves praise for just that and that only.

The sad thing is that Gold (2022) could have been a great movie with better Direction from the makers. They should have clearly gone easy on the editing part because it's just unwanted texts from dialogues scattered all over the screen and slow motion scenes for no reason at all. Just FORCED into the movie. The same thing goes for the overall casting of the movie. It's as if the Director was trying to do a lot of things in a single shot. Most of the time this movie gives a short film vibe because of its below average directions.

Overall, Gold (2022) has good potential plot wise but fails in a lot of the other aspects. I get that most of the audience didn't like the movie at all and the main reason for that is because it's not by any means a movie for the theatrical audience, it should have been initially released through OTT.

If you liked this review, make sure to checkout @thegoodshots on YouTube.

This movie doesn't deserve all the hate that is receiving now. Yes, it is not the kind of movie we expected from Alphonse, but isn't that our fault ? This is a no brainer fun movie, the kind of a 90's movie starring Mukesh and Jadageesh, with an absurd plot and a lot of characters. It is not a slapstick one or a laugh riot, but it does invoke smiles. This might not be a movie that is meant for the masses and the classes, but for people like me who loves light hearted feel good comedies. To get a perspective, I liked Money rathnam by Fahad Fazil , another movie of similar genre. I guess you got the picture 😂

Alphonse puthren has gained a very large fanbase just with his 2 movies. His first movie "Neram" was a very crisp and clear thriller with amazing writing, music and performances. His second movie "Premam" was a industry hit and one of the best hangout and vibe movie ever to be made in Malayalam cinema. "Gold" on the other hand feels like a mix of both. A story like "Neram" and making like "Premam".

Prithvi raj Sukumaran gave a good performance. All the other actors who performed in the movie did good. The movie had a good story for a interesting thriller. Some jokes work. Editing, camera work and all the other technical things were done nicely.

The movie really stretches a lot. I felt the story deserved a crisp treatment like "Neram" instead was stretched too much with unwanted characters and scenes which never clearly adds anything significant in the movie. Alphonse tries to create a vibe and atmosphere with his sketchy characters and nature shots like in "Premam", but totally falls flat and fails to create an impact. Most of the jokes never land because the characters are not effectively written or established. Nayantara just feels like a talent being wasted, she gets no scope to perform or a effective character. The songs feel pretty unnecessary and could have been avoided. The writing is just weak, never felt emotionally invested with any character, No proper and impactful antagonist and the climax feels like a joke.

Hopefully Alphonse will give a better comeback with his next movie.