Basically, Abraham Ozler is a mixed-bag thriller that never quite gets going. Yes, you can see that Midhun Manuel Thomas tried to work on the generic beats and it has to be said that nothing is as frustrating as watching someone try really hard to do something but fail at it miserably. But what the script needed was an extra push in terms of creativity and craft. The movie isn’t something similar to Anjaam Paathiraa, and yet there’s a similar tone in how the film is treated visually and on a writing level.
Abraham Ozler (Jayaram), Thrissur ACP, lost his wife and daughter three years ago which left him shattered. It’s also around this time when the city started witnessing gruesome murders with IT employees getting killed inside hospitals while under treatment for trivial illnesses. Initially thought to be isolated incidents, soon more deaths following a similar pattern occurred indicating towards presence of serial killer(s). Who could these people be? What are they after? How can we stop them? These questions form the crux of Midhun Manuel Thomas’ latest offering.
SPOILERS AHEAD! Every single dialogue and all conversations were written with such forcefully dramatic tone; I couldn’t help but wonder whether this was done deliberately so as to heighten typical thrills expected from any crime-suspense drama worth its salt. And my mind went back few months ago when another investigative thriller Garudan penned by none other than MMW himself had hit screens directed by Arun Varma if one thought Garudan was well-made then surely OSLER will entertain you beyond limits! There comes a point in second half where character reveal happens leading into flashback subplot which takes forever finish mainly because there wasn’t much substance new being discovered through that retro track except talky talk talkies galore about everything already known viewers present timeline anyway.
One would expect Dr.Randheer Krishnan writing to throw some light on various aspects of medical profession while unfolding narrative but alas! this never happens; except for the MO of killer everything else about this thriller has typicality written all over it. Even Anjaam Paathiraa after all said and done turned out be nothing more than just another revenge saga like many others in Mollywood’s recent past. However, what differentiated AP from other films of its genre was razor sharp placement back story which Midhun used brilliantly as red herrings creating unexpected twists throughout runtime thereby keeping audience guessing till very end where truth finally dawned upon them leaving jaws dropped wide open realizing how they were taken ride complete with merry-go-rounds!
The revenge drama in Abraham Ozler is structured similarly to Anjaam Paathiraa, but the former falls short because viewers are not given enough reason care about the characters involved let alone root for their triumph come climax. This flaw becomes even more glaring when certain parts become predictable or lack wow factor due anticipation something similar happening later based previous knowledge acquired earlier during same viewing itself. I mean there were times when I could guess what’s going happen next before it actually happened and that’s never good sign especially if happens several times consecutively without any deviation whatsoever! Theni Eswar’s cinematography relies too heavily upon color palette and shadowy lighting depict mood(s) while background score by Midhun Mukundan tries hard create thrilling atmosphere fails deliver each every time
Jayaram does a good job as a cop who is not at peace with himself, physically and mentally casting him is not a bad decision either. It just makes us wonder who he is. Senthil Krishna and Arya Salim are part of Ozler’s team as subordinates. Anaswara Rajan had an important character to play but very little scope to perform. The character played by Jagadish was ruthless. I wish they had cast someone else for the younger portion of Jagadish’s role, because performance-wise there was quite some contrast between the two actors, and even looks wise too Dileesh Pothan would’ve been interestingly suitable in that other role.
Arjun Nandakumar, Harikrishnan, Boban Alamoodan, Saiju Kurup et al are also there Arjun Ashokan has this extended cameo-like presence in the film which seems like a placement for a tentative sequel. And yes there is this huge guest appearance by Mammootty, it’s quite long actually. Personally I felt his star value was over exploited in the second half when Ozler takes the back seat even accepting clues from that character.
Abrahaminte Santhathikal is definitely watchable it has its moments every now and then. But an overcrowded cameo spoils some suspense while story itself becomes somewhat guessable towards end thus failing to create magic around itself completely. Jayaram’s performance & look were so different here that I thought they could’ve concentrated more on personal journey of this traumatized person rather than making separate movie altogether for him. Backstory also became too tiring by the time we see Ozler sleeping, audience almost forgot he had trouble sleeping through nights
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