Aalankam Movie Review & Rating: Thrillers in a dark mood are a yonner with a lot of potential for cinema. Crime thrillers and revenge dramas are being released in abundance in all languages. But it is doubtful whether this abundance in numbers makes the films enjoyable in any way. ‘Alangam’ is the continuation of that doubt. The film creates the usual atmosphere of thriller mode and does not give any other viewing experience beyond that.
‘Alangam’, written and directed by Shani Khader, is a film that progresses through several horrific events that take place in one place within 24 hours. Jafar Idukki, Lukman, Gokulan, Sharanya and Sudhi Koppa are playing the lead roles in this movie. The movie is full of all kinds of crimes like rape, quotation, murder, exploitation etc. Nothing happens in the film except that such scenes are presented with extreme horror and without any continuity. Amidst the match, none of the thrills reach the audience, aesthetically or otherwise. ‘Alangam’ is a procession of violence that is completely unnecessary from start to finish. The film is left with typecast characters, clichéd incidents and the script’s progression following conventional methods.
It cannot be said that creating story and characters according to templates is bad. Certain patterns open up possibilities for commercial success. But the problem there is that the distance between imitation and absorption is very thin. When it comes to ‘Alanka’, it can be seen that the film gives an experience of copying the possibilities of thriller films and dark violence. From the performances of the main actors in the film, the editing, the camera and even the background music seemed to be imitations of many films. To a certain extent, such characters restrict the actors with good screen presence from looking for other career opportunities. This movie is a great example of how type casting works in Malayalam cinema.
Neither the story nor the characters come and go without any continuity, while the film moves aimlessly from violence to violence. The film often tries unsuccessfully to make a connection between these two. This film is often a journey back from the climax in mind. It proceeds without creating any movement in the audience.
In Malayalam now, as has often been mentioned, it seems that only one option is being used, which is to release movies with the trend. ‘Alangam’ is a movie that gives a lot of momentum to that feeling. A film that can be said to be an attempt at innovation without any innovation.