One of the prime news that grabbed headlines last week was the decision taken by the Kerala Exhibitors Union to ban DQ & his production house Wayfarer Films. Apparently his latest venture, "Salute" helmed by Rosshan Andrrews opted for an OTT release instead of the theatres. After the humongous success of "Kurup", the exhibitors would have expected a similar bumper opening for "Salute" considering the impressive credentials of the cast & crew. Hence when it was released on Sony Liv last Thursday, I presume it would have naturally irked them but that didnt dampen our spirits after all the trailer gave the impression of it being an unconventional police drama.
SI Aravind Karunakaran (DQ) has been on long leave after being haunted by a case where he had to indulge in unethical practices due to pressure from higher authorities & frame a supposedly innocent individual for a twin murder. His attempt to become a whistleblower was constantly thwarted by people in the department itself under instructions from his own brother, DySP Ajith Karunakaran (Manoj K Jayan). Even otherwise, Aravind had no solid evidence that could possibly lead him to the faceless & elusive murderer. So seemed like it was a dead end after all or was it???
It's been a while since we had a movie from the Rosshan Anddrews stable with the last one being "Prathi Poovankozhi" in 2019. Whenever he had joined hands with Bobby-Sanjay, the trio have more often than not have clicked at the box office & hence there were similar expectations this time around as well. The manner in which the story slowly builds up was praise worthy as it does not resort to our conventional filmy police drama & manages to convincingly convey to the audience the emotional turmoil that the protagonist goes through. But the same cant be said about the latter half as I would have liked a much more intellectual take on the case rather than clues or whereabouts revealed by chance or luck. Similarly, I didnt feel that the relation dynamics between DQ & Manoj K Jayan quite worked out, as it seemed that Rosshan was confused as to how to treat it. Another segment that stood out like a sore thumb were the family scenes which barely gelled & the sequence where a female complains about being cheated by her boyfriend, in which both the execution and the performances were mediocre.
On the technical side, pretty much all the aspects were fine be it Jakes Bejoy's BGM which elevated the suspense/thriller mood or Aslam Purayil's visuals. Coming to performances, DQ has done justice to his role who is emotionally disturbed early on & picks himself up later on in search of redemption. The rest of the cast such as Manoj K Jayan, Binnu Pappan, Alencier, Saikumar, Shaheen Siddique etc. have done their parts aptly. None of the female artists had a commendable role & no idea why Diana Penty was even casted.
Verdict: In a way, it seemed like a role reversal for DQ from "Kurup" & that was interesting. On the whole, the movie keeps the audience engrossed because of its unconventional nature. There was scope for making it more thrilling & suspenseful. In short, give it a try!!!
Rating: 2.75/5
Regards...Ben
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