Movie Review: Mrithyunjay

Cast: Sree Vishnu, Reba Monica John, Baby Uha, Sudharshan, Raccha Ravi, Ayyappa, Sijju, Aishwarya, Balaaditya, Krishna Koushik, Nandha Gopal, Mrinchi Madhavi and others

Cinematographer: Vidya Sagar Chinta

Music Director: Kaala Bhairava

Producers: Sandeep Gunnam & Vinay Chilakapati

Written & Directed by Sri Hussain Sha Kiran

Last week, Sree Vishnu hit the marquee with his trademark comedy film Vishnu Vinyasam, but that didn’t give the expected results. Now, he’s coming up with the film “Mrithyunjay” under the direction of Sukumar’s protege, Hussain Shah Kiran, which has impressed with its teaser and other promotional videos. Did the film succeed in enthralling the audience?

Story:

Mrithyunjay alias Jai (Sree Vishnu) works for a newspaper as a marketing executive, collecting obituary ads from people, and showcases umpteen talents to extract an ad. In that process, he develops the skill of observing even trivial things extremely closely. In one such instance, he identifies himself with a baby girl who just lost her father, but has doubts that her father’s death is not natural. As he goes deep into death, he unravels sensational stuff, investigating the death further. However, police ignore him and scrap his theories, but Jai continues his quest to find the real killer behind these deaths. The twist behind the deaths, the identity of the killer, and whether Jai catches him towards the end forms the rest of the story.

Narrative-Analysis:

Ever since the OTT revolution happened, our audience has grown accustomed to Malayalam thrillers, and their directors also have that unique taste to carve them. Our audience always feels sad as to why such films don’t get made here. Despite that, most of our directors end up making commercial films that are quite popular here, hence we have very few thrillers that made a name for themselves. However, Sukumar’s protege Kiran proved that he’s a true disciple, carving out a unique thriller rather than a commercial genre film. Though we have seen this format of an unknown killer killing people, and a hero catching him, many times, Kiran offered a fresh take on the story with an engaging narrative and intriguing screenplay, despite some minor flaws. Mrithyunjay keeps the thriller enthusiasts on the edge of their seats for two hours, maintaining a high dose of suspense successfully.

Mrithyunjay is a film with a simple story but an intriguing plot as it follows the story of a killer who plans his murders quite intelligently without giving any clues, while the hero is an intelligence who could extract information with the slightest clue possible. This sets up a proper cat-and-mouse chase between the hero and villain, keeping the audience hooked. However, the story setup is very simple, and there are not a lot of twists to unfold, and the film also doesn’t have many characters. While the question ‘What Next?’ keeps haunting people, the screenplay graph slowly gets stronger and racier. The film’s tone changes from the middle portion, as it goes to another level during the climax.

Mrithyunjay’s take-off doesn’t leave a good impression, as the scenes following an interesting introduction, like a marketing executive of obituary ads, are followed by simple routine scenes. While the murder mystery and the twists and turns that follow pique the interest of the audience, they are mostly bent towards emotional upheaval. For that reason, these scenes feel like giving sentimental vibes rather than thrill. All the scenes that felt unimportant in the beginning make sense in the second half as he connects the dots. Though the villain in thrillers is often hidden towards the end, here the director reveals him in the interval and showcases how the hero finds him towards the end, setting up a good face-off between them.

Even in the second half, the face-off races forward with many twists, and that makes the flow interesting. Rather than elevating the hero as usual, Kiran focused on highlighting the villain, thus making the film special. After impressive the narrative with this, he gives proper elevation for the hero in the end. The mind-games and the dialogue-play, especially the counters, hero gives towards the end, are a blast. However, underplaying the role of the police in this total murder mystery plot and showcasing them as silly investigators isn’t impressive. Though the heroine’s role is not routine, it didn’t add any excitement. Keeping all these adversaries aside, Mrithyunjay engaged with its 2-hour narrative, especially for thriller fans.

Performances:

After tilting towards comedy films for a while, Sree Vishnu has gone back to his previous serious character regime with Mrithyunjay. Though he has done many such serious characters earlier, acting in a thriller film is the first time for him, and he did it convincingly. While showcasing the confidence needed for the role, his acting prowess in emotional scenes stood out, as he might find new fans after this movie. Though Reba Monica Johan hasn’t played a routine heroine role, without any love and romance track with the hero, she impressed with a reasonable performance. The guy who played the villain happens to be the biggest reveal, as he gave experienced actor vibes with subtle emotions. The likes of Sudharshan, Racha Rav, Ayyappa Sharma and Iswarya are attractive side-characters.

Technicalities:

Mrithyunjay scored well in the technical aspect, starting with composer Kaala Bhairava, who provided an amazing background score for this film that doesn’t even have songs. Though the music suits the thriller genre quite well, sometimes it goes overboard. Vidyasagar Chintha’s visuals are attractive, especially for the colour themes that match the narrative flow. Sreekar Prasad’s editing is also skillful. We have to appreciate producers for backing this story and providing ample production values for the same.

Writer and director Shri Hussain Shah Kiran once again proved that he’s a bright student coming from Sukumar’s school of filmmakers. Though the story sounds like a routine thriller, he does magic with this intelligence-laced screenplay, thus locking the audience. The way he carved hero-villain roles, and the way he ends the film proves his skill set.

Finally: Mrithyunjay, the victorious!

Rating: 3/5