Pramukhan Malayalam Movie

It might sound pretty improbable that with all these fisticuffs on in full swing, the film barely manages to keep us awake. But I did manage a quick nap as God-knows-who took a severe pounding from God-knows-who-else. Jul 3, 2009 By Veeyen

I strongly believe that Pramukhan refers to some goon (Sajith Raj) who heads the sand mafia in Perumbavoor. When Sub-Inspector Tomy Sebastian (Kalabhavan Mani), with a crime-cleanser reputation sets out to pull up the racket by its roots, the clan bucks up its boots and gets ready for an aggressive conflict.

There are levels of tolerable silliness in action films, but I'm afraid Pramukhan too often dips deep below the line. Most of the dialogues are downright banal, and the whole affair is pretty dumb, even by the absurd standards of such flicks.

If ever there was a story narration, it would have mostly comprised of somersaults and flying kicks, broken bones and bleeding noses. There is so much at stake here, when it comes to those action sequences. Which brings us to the saddest part. Most of the fight scenes are as vicious as they can possibly be and eminently choreographed as well. But the dullness that enwraps itself around every punch on the face just can't be wiped away.

It has been a while since we had some skin show in a commercial production down here. Particularly after the soft porn industry bit the dust. Evidently, somebody out there still feels that a dose of oomph could be a stand-in for a colorless plot. And we have a camera panning up and down the curves of its lead actress as if there is no tomorrow.

When there is a sermon on ecology and all that, in a film as this that is obsessed with everything else but that, you realize that the film is desperately crawling through quicksand. And it slowly comes to terms with the inevitable fate that awaits it and stops trying altogether.

Baba crafts all possible sequences that hold promise for a brawl. So you have these huge mighty men eternally going for it with a vengeance. Now if you ask me who these men are, I would come clean and admit I haven't a clue.

The supercop that Mani gets to play here in a cameo looks more like a teaser of the many full length similar roles that he has donned in the past. If you are a Mani devotee, you would most likely be disheartened beyond your wits at how your idol gets literally packed up. And if you aren't, you would be totally lost on this celluloid plateau that proves that more needn't necessarily be better all the time.

It might sound pretty improbable that with all these fisticuffs on in full swing, the film barely manages to keep us awake. But I did manage a quick nap as God-knows-who took a severe pounding from God-knows-who-else.

Pramukhan is hence a mere collection of mindless action sequences arranged in no particular order. Shoddily scripted and scrappily directed, this dismal horror of a film is every bit as awful as you must have heard.