The much awaited Jeethu Joseph's "Neru" finally hit the screens on Thursday. It was the biggest Malayalam release for this Christmas & undoubtedly, one of the most anticipated movie of the year. Though there are quite a few big banner releases from other industries like "Dunki" & "Salaar", I am sure that just like me many others would have been more excited to see the combination of Lalettan & Jeethu in the hope that they can recreate the "Drishyam" magic. As always, Jeethu had tried to tone down the hype by stating that it is an emotional courtroom drama that has been kept as authentic as possible without any awe inspiring suspense elements. Anyway how did the movie eventually pan out, after all it was a movie that I personally had a lot of hopes in as it's been quite a while since I saw Lalettan so realistically presented in a trailer.
Based on the script by Santhi Mayadevi & Jeethu, it is essentially a courtroom drama where the case is about a visually impaired girl, Sara (Anaswara Rajan) who has been raped. Though Sara had identified the culprit, there was difficulty in proving it in court as she was blind. It was at this juncture that a reluctant & unconfident lawyer, Vijayamohan (Lalettan) is requested to appear for her as the special public prosecutor. Due to personal reasons, he had chosen not to be involved in trials for quite a while; however Sara's resilient attitude inspires him to fight for her justice.
As mentioned earlier, it is a courtroom drama & Jeethu has still managed to picturize it an engaging manner. There is no over the top monologues on the part of the lawyer or the victim which is usually the strategy employed by movies of a similar genre. Kudos to Santhi & Jeethu for keeping it as grounded as possible without resorting to extensive cinematic elements and also for conveying the crime without resorting to graphic detail. At the same time, I felt that some of the characters were barely followed up in subsequent scenes or stuck out as sore thumbs. The climax might feel a bit far fetched though the segment showing Anaswara coming out of court & Lalettan disappearing into the crowd deserves applause. On the technical side, it was neatly done with Vishnu Shyam's BGM being worthy of special mention.
There is no need to harp about Lalettan's acting credentials, as all of us know that he is an absolute legend at it. The issue over the past few years has been his choice of movies that barely made use of caliber. However, as Adv Vijayamohan, he finally got a role that gave him the opportunity to perform & he effortlessly showcased the vulnerabilities & insecurity through his expressions, body language & voice modulation (the last time I remember him doing that was in "Villain", though the movie wasn't great while the character profile in "Lucifer" & "Drishyam 2" where he was excellent were different).
Equally impressive was Anaswara in a career best performance as it was not an easy role to portray. Irrespective of whichever role is given to Siddique in whichever movie it might be, he will always be excellent at it & over here as well, he was top notch. Jagadish continued to impress with his recent choice of movies while Sreedhanya & Ganesh Kumar did their parts well. At the same time, Priyamani was rather wasted while Santhi who appeared in way too many scenes than required was amateurish & at many instances, irritating as well (on a lighter note, reminded me of Rajappan refusing to give the script unless he is allowed to act in it in "Udayananu Thaaram").
Verdict: It was heartening to see Lalettan in a movie that gave him the scope to perform & with strong performances from Anaswara & Siddique; it is one that needs to be checked out!!!
Rating: 3.5/5
Regards...Ben
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