Review for ONE: 

•Language: MALAYALAM 

•Duration: 02 Hours 32 Minutes 

•Genre: POLITICAL THRILLER DRAMA 

(Theatre Status: LM CINEMAS CHATHANNOOR WITH AN AUDIENCE OF 50%) 

• REVIEW BY ARUNJYOTHI.R.VALIYAVEETIL.

•POSITIVES: 

1: DECENT DIRECTION 

2: PERFORMANCE OF ACTORS

3: CINEMATOGRAPHY 

4: EDITING 

5: DIALOGUES 

•NEGATIVES: 

1: WEAK STORYLINE 

2: AVERAGE SCREENPLAY 

3: DIRECTION AT SOME POINT GETS WEAK

4: MUSIC AND BACKGROUND SCORE

•ONE WORD: A political film which failed to impress. 

‘One’ is directed by Santhosh Viswanath who previously done the film called Chirakodinja Kinavukal released in 2015. The story, screenplay and dialogues are written by Bobby and Sanjay and the film is produced by Sreelakshmi. R under the production of Ichais Productions and is distributed by Anto Joseph Film Company. 

One portrays the story of Kadakkal Chandran, The Chief Minister of Kerala, a determined leader who stands strong against corruption. He is the kind of minister who used to stand for the people and their needs. Due to his sincerity and dictatorial sudden actions he gains lots of enemies both from inside his party and outside from opposition. Soon the Chief Minister Kadakkal Chandran faces serious allegation against a crucial issue, how do he face it and its follow up event unfolds the rest of the plot. 

When the writer’s Bobby and Sanjay announces their new film with Mammootty for a political thriller I was having some expectations but sadly the expectations don’t rise to the right level. From the story to the screenplay the movie deeply suffers from many criteria’s. The story is having an important issue that needs to discuss and it’s a kind of thing that should happen in Indian politics for a better future. But the interesting concept or idea was not written or made well both in the story and screenplay, all the targeted elements by the maker had failed to give the right and proper impact. The major issue associated with the film is its connectivity to the events, all the incidents which lead the plot was missing due to improper arrangements, most of the situations in the movie doesn’t lead anywhere to convince. 

The film comes under the category of a political thriller, it has many political situations and incidents but these factors were not told as a gripping thriller, the circumstances that lead the movie was portrayed like a usual drama pattern, so the movie ends up as just like a simple political film. The movie also doesn’t have the moments to cherish, the undertaking of various things done by the central character Kadakkal Chandran doesn’t have the proper impact which creates doubts on whether these situations can engage the viewers. The first half is all about a Facebook post against the Chief Minister of Kerala and many events are followed with it but these shown incidents were very hard to digest, the majority of them was not having a proper continuity or right connection. The first half was average by these ideas, the only worked out element was the events associated with the Salim Kumar family. The second half is all about a parliament bill and by the Chief Minister and his movements to get it passed. The second half was good than the first half but still, the makers had forgotten to give their best efforts, so the proper impact to impress especially in the climax was missing. Also due to the predictable way of storytelling the situations that lead the film was easy to discern which automatically leads to lagging and also failed to maintain the momentum in the viewing experience. 

Also due to the lengthy making, I felt a drag both in the first half and also in the second half. 

I would say that director Santosh Viswanath hasn’t used the acting skill of Mammootty efficiently, the chances of creating his dominance was plenty but he misses the opportunity to create a mass or heroic appeal, and influence was missing in the character therefore automatically a punch to create a moment to celebrate was missing therefore while watching the audience or fans are not getting their chances to celebrate or cherish, feel like watching a drama. The attempt of bringing a bold concept into Indian politics was introduced in the second half so I was excited and was hoping to see some storing political fights but sadly nothing happens. The concept is something that needs to be introduced but the system won’t let it enter into Indian politics however the concept was strong enough to make the movie powerful unfortunately both the director and the writer haven’t used it successfully. Everything was made up so easy that to even predictable, one can know and realise how the movie is going to end or how the movie can cross with this concept. Therefore the mediocre screenplay and predictable story with the average direction makes the compete movie sick. 

The character development was also poor, Mammootty coming as the Chief Minister was the only saving grip. Many characters use to come and go, no proper personalities, no right attitude, loss of right identity was all overseen in many characters. The villain role of Murali Gopi was typically moderate, Murali Gopi was the right choice but makers haven’t effectively build a strong villain or else haven’t brought a powerful villain to compete against a character like Chief Minister. The villain coming at some point and making some situations and failing repeatedly was boring to watch. Also, some missing elements were seen in the character of Chief Minister like his history into politics, his past life, family sentiments and ideologies was not shown as perfectly, some sort of missing elements was felt and that’s the reason why the Chief Minister character was having less mass and strong appeal. His life and history were only told through some dialogues therefore felt like the writers and director were like forcing the viewers to accept it or like compelling them to remember that the character is powerful and influential man. Anyway, this sinking movie was only saved by the screen presence of Mammootty, to perform he was not having anything challenging but still due to his style, elegance, attitude and dialogue delivery the movie somehow maintains a grip to finish but however while watching I wish the writers and director could have made the character much more powerful, sadly nothing to surprise. 

Both the making and script also need to be mention, the direction of Santosh Vishwanath and the script by the hitmakers Bobby and Sanjay is the biggest issue and drawback of One. The story was written out in an immature manner with many mindless silly occurrences and the screenplay was like a half baked food, with many unsuitable and unacceptable incidents also filling the script with terrible character development. I was shocked and was wondering how the writers like Bobby and Sanjay can come up with a terrible script like this. The making of Santosh Vishwanath was ok but not great, his major fault was not using the talents and skills of an actor like Mammootty which is unacceptable. Also as a director he could have shown more responsibility in the script, it was his duty to realise the fault but haven’t or else he had forgotten to figure out the errors, still, he maintained to finish the movie decently.

Looking into the performance of actors Mammootty as Kadakkal Chandran, the Chief Minister of Kerala did a good and fair job. The qualities lie for a Chief Minister was handled perfectly by Mammootty, also the intensity and timing in delivering the dialogues were also sharp and powerful. As usual, he did with his genuine acting skills but nothing challenging for him, whatever he did was worthy to watch. Joju George as Babychan, the Party Secretary did a fine performance, his combination scenes with Mammootty was seriously acted out. Muruli Gopi as Marampalli Jayanandhan, Leader of Opposition revoked as the best villain. His negative character and its shade were good to watch. Mathew Thomas as Sanal and Ishaani Krishna as Ramya come with a crucial role and both did a decent performance, few emotional scenes of Mathew Thomas were good. Gayathri Arun as Seena was excellent, the role was important and she had acted out genuinely, all her emotional scenes were notable and the timing and perfection in delivering the dialogues were solid. Nimisha Sajayan as Lalitha Satheesh comes with a cameo appearance and shared great screen space with Mammootty, sister-brother relationship was emotional. Salim Kumar come with an important role as a father and did a great job, his sentimental scenes had really worked out. Alencier Ley Lopez as Kuriakose, Minister for Revenue, P. Balachandran as Attingal Madhusoodanan, MLA Opposition, 

Prasanth Alexander as Satheesan, MLA Opposition, Prem Kumar as P Madhu, MLA Opposition, Jagadish as P. Sugunan, MLA Opposition, Ranjith as Vijaya Mohan, Advocate General, Siddique as K C Jayakumar, Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, Sudheer Karamana as T.M Musaliyar, Minister for Industries comes with the role to handle the supporting characters and everyone did justice to their respective supporting characters.

The cinematography of Vaidy Somasundaram was good with standard frames, Trivandrum city and its premise was captured perfectly but challenging or any kind of special skills was not seen in camera work. The editing of Nishad Yusuf was ok with normal cuts, mismatches were not felt. The makeup team doesn’t contribute great work, the makeups for Mammootty was not at their best especially the looks at the ending. The background score of Gopi Sunder failed to create the punch, doesn’t have a mass appeal after and during the ending of a scene. Also, the background tunes at the emotional scenes were also normal, on most of the major scenes the tunes were not having a proper sink, the major problem associated with the background score is it failed to make an impact for important scenes. The film was having a single song in the second half which was completely annoying to the situations and the song was unpleasant to hear.  

So overall the movie One had given me an unsatisfying theatre experience because of the predictable storyline, mediocre screenplay and average making. The screen presence of Mammootty is the only saving factor, this time Bobby and Sanjay had failed to meet the expectations, injustice script for a Mammootty film. Therefore to conclude it’s a one-time watch and the choice is all yours, but while grabbing the tickets better to watch with fewer expectations.

•VERDCIT: BELOW AVERAGE 

•RATING: 2.5/5