‘Salute’ is an unconventional shot at noir that is far from successful. This is a crime saga that is served real cold, and the procedural story line offers very little to the expectant viewer apart from loads of tedium and hints at some excitement that never arrives.
A scorching sense of remorse is central to the plan d’action in Roshan Andrews’ ‘Salute’, in which Dulquer Salman plays Aravind Karunakaran, a freshly commissioned police officer who gets a whiff of the stink emanating from departmental procedures.. The deliberate, hushed tone of ‘Salute’ does not work in its favour, and its sauntering pace isn’t of much help either.
‘Salute’ attempts to perk up the familiar crime genre by throwing in a disparate stream of thought – one that dwells on righteousness – but this endeavor falls flat mostly on account of some surprisingly languid writing by Bobby and Sanjay. The source material does have some tremendous dramatic scope, but none of it is competently utilized.
Sub Inspector Aravind is part of an investigating team headed by his own elder brother Deputy Superintendent of Police Ajith Karunakaran (Manoj K Jayan), Circle Inspector Dhanapalan (Vijayakumar), Sub Inspector Hyder Salim (Binu Pappu) and the Head Police Constable Kesavan (Alencier). With a couple murdered in cold blood, with mounting political pressure and left with no definite leads to the murderer, the team plants evidence to substantiate their theory based on circumstantial evidence. This leads to an arrest in no time, and as the innocent man is convicted by the court, Aravind emerges on a guilt trip, goes on a long leave from service and shifts his focus to law studies in Bangalore.
Three years having passed, Aravind returns to Kerala for the wedding of his niece (Saniya Iyappan), where memories that have been stacked away for long are rekindled. He soon finds himself on the track of a mysterious man named Chandran Pillai, who seems to be the trickster that they had been on the lookout for all along!
For one, ‘Salute’ takes a long time to reach where it at least feels that there is some drama coming up. Secondly, even then, there is no end to the meandering that the script indulges in, tagging us along on a wild goose chase, that time and again leads nowhere. For the protagonist, this turns out to be exasperating, and for the viewer, doubly so.
There are a few plain embarrassing scenes in the midst of all these – like the one where the women of the house try to closely inspect the relationship that Aravind shares with his live-in partner. The comic intent of the scene juts out like sore thumb in the narrative. There is another one that involves a woman who arrives to lodge a complaint against a lover who has disappeared with her money, that is ruined beyond repair both by the scene construction as well as the performances involved.
It is extremely hard to feel for the characters in ‘Salute’ – even for Murali, the wrongly convicted man or his sister, since the writing barely does any justice to them. This is also perhaps why we never really get involved in Aravind’s pursuits either, because none of his inner battles are sensitively conveyed across to the viewers.
Dulquer’s sober performance is one of the few saving graces of the film, and Diana Penty is cast opposite him as his love interest Amritha. One of those roles that holds very little significance, Penty is wasted, as are other women actors as Lekshmi Gopalaswami and Saniya in miniscule roles. The film could very well boast of a few crisp frames by Aslam K Purayil and Jakes Bijoy comes up with a background score that is any day more intriguing than the actual happenings on screen.
‘Salute’ is an unconventional shot at noir that is far from successful. This is a crime saga that is served real cold, and the procedural story line offers very little to the expectant viewer apart from loads of tedium and hints at some excitement that never arrives.
Verdict: Average