206. Corona Papers; movie review

CORONA PAPERS

Cert 12A

153 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, bloody images, language, threat

Corona Papers is a tense, twisting thriller which kept me on edge throughout. I wasn't even put off by it being more than two and a half hours.

For me, the key to the success of Priyadarshan's movie is that all of its characters are flawed, especially the police officers.

Indeed, it begins with a senior of them (Sandhya Shetty) shooting dead two suspects even though she knows they are most likely innocent.

Those killings are intended to tie up loose ends but only serve to set off a train of unexpected violent events.

Intertwined, is the loss of the service revolver of a newly arrived cop (Shane Nigam) who is determined to kick against the obvious corruption in the force.

Meanwhile, a downtrodden, soon-to-retire officer (Siddique) is fighting tooth and nail against being framed for crimes and losing out on his much-needed pension.

There is some pretty tough action during Corona Papers complemented by the smartness of a plot where strands meet.

And then there are some significant moral conundrums.

The cast is great - Shetty is completely convincing as the meanest cop I have seen in ages, Nigam is equally credible in the quest to get things done cleanly and I particularly enjoyed Siddique's portrayal as the officer fighting to clear his name.

I also admired Gayathrie as an ambitious TV reporter and Shine Tom Chacko as an erratic gangster.

Corona Papers has had a lukewarm reception and is not a typical Malayalam thriller because its heroes and villains are not clear-cut. But the latter is the very reason I enjoyed it

Reasons to watch: Interesting turns

Reasons to avoid: Stereotypes

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 8/10

Did you know? The story is adapted from Akira Kurosawa's 1949 Japanese film Stray Dog and the Tamil film 8 Thottakkal by Sri Ganesh

The final word. Shane Nigam: "He's a senior filmmaker and I am a young actor, so it was quite unexpected. But I was excited and when Badusha called me to say that Priyan sir has him story that he wants to narrate, I immediately went to Chennai to hear the script." OTT Play

 

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