‘Vikadakumaran’ does not manage to work wonders with the slender thread of promise that lies at its core. This one has a plot that gets creakier with time, and at two hours and ten minutes, it huffs and puffs along, before eventually running out of steam.
‘Vikadakumaran’ is a court room drama that seeks to entertain, and in the process shoves out the rest of its concerns through the back door. It could keep you amused depending on how disposed you are to unconcernedly let off its slip-ups or on how inclined you are to simply ignore the gaping loopholes all over its logic.
Binu Sebastian (Vishnu Unnikrishnan) is a small time criminal lawyer who has been waiting forever, for a life transforming case to come his way. When a home guard (Indrans) gets run over by a car, the rich driver Roshi Balakrishnan (Jinu Joseph) lands up in police custody, and entrusts Binu with the task of getting him out on bail.
‘Vikadakumaran’ is partly amusing, not on account of its story or its mode of narration, but because of a judge (Rafi), who keeps the proceedings mirthful in the court room. But neither the judge nor his playful antics and retorts can salvage the film or its basic premise, that swivels round and round in a specious trench.
If one were to start asking questions, one could go on till eternity, and ‘Vikadakumaran’ almost expects you to keep watching with your mouth and brains cut off. The odd chuckle or two rises from this corner and that, but even more inadvertently rises up from the writing that goes terribly lame at certain points.
There are two distinct tracks that are drawn parallel to each other, and if you have been paying attention, it dawns on you how they are going to be linked. You also realize that in doing so, the film makers would have stretched it a bit too far, taking almost everyone concerned – the judiciary, the police force and almost everyone else – for granted.
If only it were as uncomplicated a world as the one painted in ‘Vikadakumaran’, where a court room starkly resembles a debating venue at college, where police officers pay heed to a story that they get to hear on a bus trip and spring to action in no time, and where justice – of the ultimate kind – is served without any sort of compromise.
The women in ‘Vikadakumaran’ mostly occupy the background, and while the girl Binu pines for (Manasa Radhakrishnan) just about makes it to strut around in a song, others like the woman lawyer are less fortunate and merely gets to stand upright while the men do the talking. There is probably just one lady who gets to speak and perform a bit – Aishwarya (Rosin Jolly) – the actress, who is witness to a gruesome crime.
‘Vikadakumaran’ belongs to Jinu Joseph who plays the baddie to perfection, and to Rafi, who does bring a smile to your face, every time he makes an appearance. There is Indrans as well, in a noteworthy role. Vishnu Unnikrishnan is adequate as the young lawyer who acts the idiot, while Dharmajan Bolgatty and Baiju strive hard to provide some comic relief.
‘Vikadakumaran’ does not manage to work wonders with the slender thread of promise that lies at its core. This one has a plot that gets creakier with time, and at two hours and ten minutes, it huffs and puffs along, before eventually running out of steam.
Verdict: Strictly Average