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Thrillers
have always been one of the most popular genres in storytelling as there is not
another variety that is so naturally and quickly involving. There is a reason
as to why Agatha Christie is literally the best selling novelist of all time
according to the Guinness Book of World
Records, and why she is the most published, only behind Shakespeare and the
Bible. Such is the reach of suspense and thriller stories. In movies,
Hitchcock, the ‘Master of Suspense’, is still an all time favorite, and is one
of the most revered filmmakers who specialized in suspense and thriller films. We
have a fair share of thrillers in the Malayalam language as well, and the more recent
exploration into the genre shows an increased number of promising films that
commit to realistic execution of the same, successfully instilling suspense,
anxiety, surprise, excitement and nail-biting anticipation in the viewers. Following is a
list of such movies in the thriller genre in Malayalam that are
worth your time, be it action, crime, psychological, legal or medical.
10. Kirti Chakra 2006
Kirti Chakra
is an action thriller about an elite group of NSG commandos assigned to counter
terrorism duties in Kashmir, and focuses primarily on their prolonged and
gripping operation to thwart a terrorist plot directed to destroy the Hazratbal
Shrine. Everything about the film except the hackneyed backstory of Major
Mahadevan, the officer heading the commando group played by Mohanlal, and the
formulaic arc connecting his wife’s death to the head of the terrorist group,
is credibly executed, all thanks to the first hand experience of debutant
director Major Ravi on the turf.
9. Neram 2013
As the name suggests, ‘time’
is dire in Alphonse Puthren’s debut feature, and it’s a marathon chase like one
of those heart-pumping maze video games. There are people running away from
things, and then there are people chasing after them. An unemployed man in the
run from a badass loan shark, a network of chain snatchers and pickpockets, a damsel
in distress and a bunch of clueless cops are all a part of these crisscrossing
rushes of pursuits, and it’s the resulting burst of adrenaline that trumps all
the minor flaws in this well paced thriller.
8. Aparan 1988
Padmarajan’s Aparan featuring Jayaram is a
psychological crime thriller that slowly and creepily gets under your skin.
There must be plenty of films about doubles and doppelgangers, especially those
ones where a villain shares the same looks as the protagonist, but this one
dangerously plays with the crossing over of dissimilarities that separate them.
Here what begins as fear for one’s own image holding a criminal bearing
eventually transcends to a desire to own it, and it’s the nature of this
psychological exploration that makes Aparan
uniquely gripping at the end of it all.
7. Commissioner 1994
When you come to think of
it, this is one of those typical Shaji Kailas films written by Renji Panicker
where a fearless and hotheaded protagonist fights against the corrupt system,
with a fair share of thrills, action and trademark fiery dialogues, but Commissioner is perhaps the only film where
it all came together in a tautly gripping package. There is no end to the
histrionics in this police story aptly featuring Suresh Gopi in the lead, and
the 'larger-than-life’ness associated with the narrative in fact adds to the
overall hair-raising experience.
6. Chaappa Kurishu 2011
Samir Thahir’s directorial
debut is a white-knuckler story that links two men from two very different
social strata through a missing cellphone that has sexually explicit content-
one that loses it, and the other that finds it. What follow is a twisted and
engaging probe on human morality and the suspenseful buildup that leads to a
questionable area of sanity in the physically and emotionally draining climax.
Apparently, most of the chase scenes set in packed streets were covertly shot
with cameras mounted on the actors for realistic reaction of the crowd.
5. Mumbai Police 2013
Assistant commissioner Aryan
is sniped down at a gallantry award ceremony, and his friend Antony Moses, the
officer in charge of the murder investigation loses his memory in an accident
immediately after solving the case. This is where Roshan Andrews’ crime
thriller begins. Now Moses has to link together the pieces from his dented
memory, while the actual murderer is still at large. It is the amnesia element In
Mumbai Police that adds layers to the
murder mystery stretching the element of anticipation culminating in a shocking
twist that comes only in the very end.
4. Drishyam 2013
It is the unassuming nature
of the lead characters that makes the unpredictability of the twisty plot all
the more exhilarating in Jeethu Joseph’s gripping work that is about an
expansively designed crime cover-up. Drishyam
focuses on a crafty family man Georgekutty played with brilliant subtlety by
Mohanlal, who goes to great lengths to conceal a murder and his family’s
involvement in it from the law and a cynical police inspector who is also the
victim’s mother. Whether he succeeds in getting away with it forms the
narrative core of this clever suspense thriller.
3. Traffic 2011
Rajesh Pillai’s Traffic pushes you to the edge of the
seat through most part of its run, and is about a risky mission to move a human
heart inside of two hours to a dying heart patient 150kms away during peak hour
traffic. Multiple plotlines collide in this nerve-wracking ride that runs on
the clock building up a suspense that is far too overwhelming given the number
of variables that could go wrong any minute. Only the implausible sequence set
in the overcrowded bottleneck in the climactic route leaves a somewhat bad
taste in the viewing experience.
2. New Delhi 1987
1. Shutter 2012
Joy Mathew’s Shutter is a brilliantly structured
satirical suspense thriller that will have you hooked from start to finish. Blame
it on fate or bad timing, but while on a break for his daughter’s engagement, an
NRI is helplessly stranded inside an empty one-room shop with a prostitute for
two days and one night, and the film builds on his gripping anxiety about a potential
scandal upon exposure, as he observes the world around through the small window
in the rear of the shop, reflecting on his own idea of freedom and ethics.
Good selection of films. I liked shutter so much.
ReplyDeleteDrishyam is no 1 and memories no 2
ReplyDelete