‘Kurukkan’ movie review: A confused mix of genres that ends up in no man’s land

A still from ‘Kurukkan’

In a revealing, self-aware moment early on in Kurukkan, Dinesh (Vineeth Sreenivasan), the police officer protagonist, blames true-crime television shows for suspects quite easily tackling his rather intelligent questions. That passing comment reveals as much about the movie as it does about the character. The whole investigation part gets a light, almost humorous treatment, and this also becomes an excuse to not have too many intriguing or gripping elements to drive the plot.

Keeping you on the edge of the seat is not one of the stated purposes of Jayalal Divakaran’s Kurukkan, scripted by Manoj Ramsingh. But it also does not succeed much in its stated purpose of making people laugh, which it manages only once in a while, despite trying a little too hard. Part of Dinesh’s character of the blundering policeman is evidently drawn from the likes of the old comic Shikkari Shambu, but unlike that harmless character who solves cases accidentally, Dinesh almost always gets it wrong. Also, framing innocent persons is not beyond him, if it would fetch him positive media attention. In a movie with a different tone of treatment, he is perfect for a villainous police officer, although here he is a laughing stock for most parts.

The case at hand is the murder of a social media celebrity and influencer. Struggling to find a suspect and dying to mend his image after a botched drug bust, Dinesh decides to frame someone, but things do not go as per the police officer’s plans. One of the other key characters is that of Krishnan (Sreenivasan), on whom the police depend for false testimonies to shore up their cases. Again, the humorous treatment of his antics for most parts somewhat lightens what is otherwise a serious issue, with fake testimonies being known to be employed in many cases. Hari (Shine Tom Chacko), a cyber expert, rounds up the bunch of wily ones who play their wits together and against each other in a game in which some are bound to fall.

Due to the unconventional treatment of a crime investigation, even the makers seem to be at times confused on the right tone to strike for specific scenes. Some of the court exchanges seem too long-winded, and even forced, in an attempt to wring out some humour from it. Although the turning of the tables in the end redeems the movie a bit, one ends up losing interest in the whole plot by that point of time, thanks to the weakly-written portions that lead up to it. One is left with the feeling that there was a good movie somewhere in there, but which was lost in the confused mix of genres. In the end, Kurukkan lands in no man’s land.

Kurukkan is currently running in theatres