Praavinkoodu Shappu Movie Review: A messy second half spoils this crime drama

Praavinkoodu Shappu Movie Review: Critics Rating: 2.0 stars, click to give your rating/review,The actors start out strong, but just like writer-director Sreeraj Sreenivasan, seems to lose grip i

Critic's Rating: 2.0/5
Story: A psychologically perceptive SI takes charge of the murder investigation of a 'shappu' owner, but is the criminal smarter than him?

Review: What happens when you have a murder investigation and the cop has probably solved the crime in the first half? The second half slips into puzzling chaos.

Just as the customers of the titular Pravinkoodu Shappu are finishing with their drinks and are about to leave after their nightly drunken skirmish, they find the goonda owner, Komban Babu, of the toddy shop hanging from the ceiling beams. It is quickly established that the murderer is one amongst them and since they are regulars who know each other, the story is told through perspectives of those at the shop, from the customers, to the woman cook, the joint’s caretaker Kannan, played by Soubin, and his wife, Merina, who everything feels had an affair with the dead Babu.

Basil Joseph plays the psychologically perceptive - or is he? - SI Santhosh CJ, who is in charge of a murder investigation. At the interval point, Santosh is sure he has the culprit, so we are left wondering what the second half is going to be about. But the middle and end climax of the movie, we might still be left wondering what it was all about. Why didn’t the police apprehend the suspect? Why are the possible suspects trying to recreate the crime? Why is SI Santhosh sometimes shown as having signs of brilliance, sometimes a creep and sometimes clueless?

The actors start out strong, but just like writer-director Sreeraj Sreenivasan, seems to lose grip in the too-long second half. It’s a shame, because the stylistic filmmaking, enhanced by Shyju Khalid’s cinematography - particularly in a on a chase sequence with a school bus of Kannan’s scooter - Shafeeq Mohammed Ali’s cuts, Vishnu Vijay’s music and Vishnu Govind’s sound, and the quirky characters - reminiscent of KG George’s cult classic Yavanika, could have make it a standout crime drama. Now, it feels more like a why-dunnit.



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