‘Edakkad Battalion 06’ is a laborious endeavour that despite all its good intentions fails to hit the bull’s eye. This is a film that you anticipate would let out a high sounding roar, but which ends up delivering a strenuous whimper instead.
What is meant to be a glorious tribute to the military force turns out to be not much more than a gun shot in the dark that rings hollow and that misses the mark, the reason being that Swapnesh K Nair’s ‘Edakkad Battalion 06’ is less of a military film and more of a personal voyage of its protagonist, who does happen to be a jawan.
Tovino Thomas plays Shafeeq Muhammed in the film, a young army man, who has always dreamt of being a part of the military force. He is also a man who is drawn back time and again to his roots, and as such looks forward to the prized vacations that come his way, when he heads back home, to the land that had made him what he is.
‘Edakkad Battalion 06’ starts off on one of those breaks, where Shafeeq sheds off his captain uniform for a while and gets busy being with his kith and kin. It doesn’t take long before he realizes that something is amiss in the familiar sights that he sees around, and when he goes seeking answers to his questions, finds answers that are disquieting to the core.
While it does remain laudable that the film tackles one of the most contemporary of social issues, it also remains that there is a conflict between the air of expectations that it had raised before its release and the actual content that it eventually concerns itself with. While it is indeed pitched with loads of sincerity, it is without the energy and life that you expect it to have.
P Balachandran, whose terse script had had us transfixed in ‘Kammattippadam’ lets an idea run lose this time around. The writing in ‘Edakkad Battalion 06’ is all over the place, and there are very few instances in it that would move the viewer with its genuineness.
This lack of engagement even spreads over to the romantic track in the film, that involves Shafeeq and Naina (Samyuktha Menon), that appears bland. While the film attempts to capture a lot more than it could possibly aspire for, there is not much in it that would knock you out of your senses and it leaves behind an emptiness that doesn’t do it any good.
There is a steady decline in the excitement as the film progresses towards its climax from a start that had seemed a bit enterprising. The final twist that arrives is also one that would invite mixed reactions, not because it runs short of the surprise element, but because of the manner in which it has been wedged in.
Tovino looks every bit the army captain that he gets to play, but does not get to have many sequences that explore the potentials of the actor in him. He looks smashingly good, but does not get to flaunt his histrionic skills in ‘Edakkad Battalion 06’. Samyuktha Menon does good, while there are staunch supportive performances from actors as Shalu Rahim, Rekha, Joy Mathew and Nirmal Palazhi. Sinu Sidharth’s frames are impressive, and Kailas Menon massively scores with the track ‘Nee Himamazhayaay’ that has already topped the charts.
‘Edakkad Battalion 06’ is a laborious endeavour that despite all its good intentions fails to hit the bull’s eye. This is a film that you anticipate would let out a high sounding roar, but which ends up delivering a strenuous whimper instead.
Verdict: Average