‘Khalifa’ movie review: Prithviraj Sukumaran stars in a shoddily written old-school smuggling drama
The Malayalam film 'Khalifa', starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, is criticized for its unoriginal script and lack of emotional depth. The review highlights that the smuggling drama relies on outdated tropes and fails to provide compelling character development.
Why it matters
It serves as a critique of the current state of storytelling in regional cinema, noting a lack of innovation in established genres.
When a star plays a notorious smuggler, there has to be a compelling reason for him to become one. Vysakh’s Khalifa provides Aamir Ali (Prithviraj Sukumaran) a reason with some emotional pull. A one-liner for the film could be this: ‘a heart-rending story of a man who becomes a master gold smuggler to repay his honest father’s debts caused by corrupt politicians’. However, the narrative lacks the intended emotional pull or the expected thrills. The similarity to umpteen films released in the 1980s and 90s adds to the movie’s dullness.
With antagonists also being gold smugglers, writer Jinu Abraham differentiates between good and bad smugglers. Yet no effort appears to have gone into updating the old story, which has now been covered in Malayalam cinema from almost every possible angle.
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