Director: Anuram
Cast: Lal, Shine Tom Chacko, Shritha Sivadas, Joju George
Many Malayalam films have explored the life of goons. Dum starring Shine Tom Chacko, who was arrested not long ago for a cocaine case, does the same but without encouraging results. The story tries to deal with a wide range of plots such as drug trafficking, animosity of gangs, anti-hero versus police and even extra-judicial killings but fails miserably to deal with any of them with any clarity. The screenplay is not fluent and the story lacks rhythm.
Directed by Anuram, it is amateurish in most respects. The only actor who commits truly to his character is Lal, who plays Xavier, the leader of the gang which has Shine Tom Chacko (Antony) as a member. Antony is in love with Xavier’s daughter Sherin while Lal is in favour of a marriage between Sherin and another goon leader Duttan, played by Juby Ninan.
Enter Antony’s brother who gets addicted to drugs and the film suddenly becomes a fight against drug-trafficking and Duttan, who is the lynchpin in the narcotics trade. Joju George, the superintendent of police, wages a war against drugs and uses the rival gangs to accomplish his task and secure a promotion. The film ends with a so-called twist and a voice-over about the present society.
Shine the hero shines but in a few scenes while the less said about supporting actors the better. The music is average while background music is clichéd.
