Rating: ** ½
Kalamkaval in Malayalam, is a very showoffy project. Mammootty who has played nearly the entire spectrum of characters that a male actor can play,is cast as a serial killer based on a real vermin whom everyone called Cyanide Mohan for his habit of killing women with cyanide doses.
He had other means of snuffing lives. But this one caught on.This is a criminal who likes to innovate in his field of work. Just like Mammootty.
The same story was filmed as an OTT series Bhagwat Chapter 1: Rakshasa. Jitendra Kumar played the antagonist while Arshad Warsi was cast as the investigative cop.
Mammootty makes a more suave killer than Jitendra Kumar, and that’s not a good thing. In principle, a superstar playing a nasty sociopath takes away the sting from the character, makes him appear cool and sadly, appealing.
Playing a man who killed numerous women after luring them into a relationship and marriage,may be Mammootty’s idea of challenging fun. For us,it is embarrassing. There are some things you don’t want the role models to do, not necessarily for setting the wrong example, but also because it seems selfindulgent and unwarranted.
That said, Kalamkavel is not an unwatchable film. It is well paced, and some of foiled attempts to nab the killer are shot with the bridled energy of karma on a leash.
Besides Mammootty who sinks his teeth into the scumbag’s role with relish, there is the redoubtable Vinayakan stepping into the investigative cop’s role (offered originally to Prithviraj Sukumaran) . Vinayakan’s Nath suffers on the charisma quotient vis a vis Mammootty who plays the ‘Killing Addict’ with vigorous sang-froid.
I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or not.Mammootty makes the serial killer frightening but not creepy enough. If Mammootty is playing the killer, he cannot be the mentally depraved beast he is supposed to be.During of his many murderous encounters with his potential victims, the killer asks the lady, ‘Did you like it(the sex).Want to do it again?’
One for the road.
This is where Jitendra Kumar comes in.Kalmakavel is a languorous passage into a satanic mind. It is taut and tactile . But it doesn’t tell us what it should: serial killers should be decimated even when played by a superstar.
