KALIKKALAM 1990 MOVIE REVIEW

 

KALIKKALAM(1990) REVIEW 

Sathyan Anthikkad usually known for his family oriented movies takes a departure to film a thriller. As its a sathyan movies everything is shown in a lighter vein and the action never gets too dark or violent ala a Joshy film.

Mammootty plays a nameless thief. No backstory is given for his becoming one . This itself was unique storytelling. usually heros have names and ample justification is always given for why he chose the wrong path. This doesnt happen here. We gradually gets to know that the hero is an orphan, who chose this profession on his own. Maybe it was because he is so good at it .But to give him brownie points , the hero is a minor robin hood who helps the needy using the money he steals from fat cats and also funds a church run orphanage.

Enters CI Shekhar who is an upright police officer who quickly begins to roundup all goondas and thieves in the city . He tries to bring our hero to the book but he proves too smart him for him. There are some hilarious scenes which shows the cat and mouse chase . The pressure from his superiors and politicians slowly begins to wear out Shekhar and he gets suspended. To top it all he also becomes the prime accused in a murder and gets arrested.

luckily Our hero is a witness to this murder and knows the real culprit. Although he could remain silent and save his skin his conscience does not allow an honest police officer to become a victim.

The climax scenes where he appears at he court as a witness and reveals the true identity to the visible discomfort of the assembled police officers is hilarious .

The romantic angle is played by Shobhana, who plays the daughter of a senior police officer. It inevitably ends in heartbreak. But the hero consoles her that it was never meant to be .

The upright police officer shekhar learns the lesson that honesty and kindness can be found in the most unlikely people.

The movie was a big success at the time of its release. mammootty played a sort of anti hero which was a huge departure from his 'rama' like roles of the time. he played the role of the thief superbly. The variety of disguises and mannerisms he adopts for each of his heists were also good..

The movie had only one song, a beautiful one- Akashagopuram (sung by G venugopal) which had some funny scenes where mammootty escaping from the police by the skin of his teeth..

Overall a really watchable movie .