The nineties Malayalam cinema dealt with unemployment with #Mohanlal and #Srinivasan playing the iconic characters of two bumbling youths Das and Vijayan in the #Nadodikattu trilogy. Things haven't changed much. Unemployment still exists. We now have two engineering grads Anthony and VinayDas, who understand social media well but are unable to secure paying jobs. The charm, enthusiasm and enterprise is all the same; what’s left out is the slapstick humour. And replaced with an earnest determination that leads to an engaging crime thriller. Needless to say, Malayalam cinema continues to be obsessed with real life happenings.
#ZEE5 is streaming #TharunMoorthy’s #OperationJava and ASHOK’s FIVE reviews this rather unconventional and yet gripping movie. The story line is a tale of five-odd disparate events but strung together as a loose crime investigation drama and upended with some thrilling action sequences at the end.
Anthony George (#BaluVarghese) and Vinay Dasan(#LukmanAvaran) play the two tech grads who lend their skills to investigate the piracy case of the film #Premam. The cyber crime division sees value addition and what follows is a set of cases around phishing, data theft, cyber blackmail on the back of morphed videos, leading up to a case of murder. The film deals with the subject of cyber crime, a novel theme of great interest to the general public, while focusing on the trials and tribulations of part-time/ casual employees who struggle to earn a living and face humiliation at the workplace. I think what holds this fragile plot together is how the leads manage to carry themselves through the narrative.
There aren't too many women characters here; the only other sub-plot is a romance track of one of the leads; this is nipped in the bud when the family refuses to allow the girl to be married to a temporary worker. The cast is impressive with #Irshad, #ShineTomChacko, #BinuPappan, #AlexanderPrasanth, #VinitaKoshy and #Vinayakan essaying some delectable performances. The cinematography by #FaizSiddik and the music by #JakesBejoy lend credence to the narrative. The thrilling chase sequences at the end are done well.
#OperationJava is intriguing. This could well have been a series of episodes based on various kinds of cyber crime. Instead, the events are held together by a fragile thread and I can only imagine that it is the performances and the realistic portrayal of the emotional travails of the common man taking on the system ekes out empathy and helps you identify with the protagonists. An interesting experiment that merits your attention for sure!
Comments