Garudan

Garudan just about flies, failing to soar. The first half of the movie is quite good raising our hope but then the second half lets us down by poor writing. Weak storyline; they could have done a lot better if they had used more imagination, or put in more effort.

As far as acting is concerned, the main players are Sidhique and Biju who have done a good job while Suresh Gopi's was average.

The direction and screen play (with too many unnecessary scenes) are again average.

My main complaint is that the makers have tried to present a mystery but without following the ground rules of writing/making mystery stories/movies. A good mystery story teller has to follow the basic rule that you cannot hide anything from the reader/viewer! They don't have to elaborate or explain to the reader/viewer at each step of the way but they should take us along as they investigate and discover clues. The best movies/books are those where the viewer/reader gets all the information by the end of the movie along with the investigator thus giving us the chance to think, use our brains and make our own deductions. Finally when the investigator discloses the identity of the killer/criminal - we get the pleasure of having deduced correctly or at least the surprise, the thrill at how the investigator reached his conclusion; that's the thrill of reading/watching a mystery story.

And this is where this story fails. They dont tell us anything about the antagonist - his history or background or character. There is no indication as to what kind of a person he is; we dont even know if he had really commited the crime? And then suddenly in the last reel, the SP starts pulling out rabbits out of his hat, one after another - proving that he was right all along and that he had arrested the right person.

Nor do we feel any empathy or respect for the investigating SP; because again the writers have failed to build up his character. All we know is that he is Suresh Gopi - looking quite old. At the verge of retirement the court orders him to compensate the antagonist for wrongful investigation. He immediately becomes a drunkard and starts fighting with everyone around him - all in the name of investigation! But by then we are past caring for this character.

My rating is 5.

Garudan is a new movie directed by debutant Arun Varma. Written by Midhun Manuel Thomas of Anjaam Paathira fame with Suresh Gopi and Biju Menon playing the lead characters. Jakes Bejoy scored the music. Simply put, Garudan is a satisfying crime investigative thriller with some twists that I have never seen before.

To delve into the story, a college student is raped on a rainy night in an under construction building. The culprit barely gets a glimpse by a drunk construction worker under the flash of a lightning. However, the police fail to nab the culprit and seven months pass by. Finally, the police get a breakthrough and make an arrest. The court sentences the culprit to life imprisonment. After 7 years, the culprit is released early from jail due to good behavior. In the meantime, the police who handled the case is getting ready for retirement. The culprit files a petition in court to reopen the case to prove his innocence after serving his sentence. Why did he do that? Was he really the culprit? If not, who was? What happens to the police who handles the case and his retirement? Will the system ever find out who the real culprit was? All of these questions will be answered in the remainder of the movie.

Suresh Gopi played the cop who investigates the case and Biju Menon plays a college professor who has a PhD in finance and who gets blamed and goes to jail for rape. They are supported by Siddique, Abhirami and others. This is a Biju Menon show through and through. Suresh Gopi is at his usual best as playing a cop is nothing new to him. But it is Biju Menon who steals the show with his act.

Jakes Bejoy scored the music for this movie and it is apt and feels organic and contributes to the suspense. It is good.

The real star of the movie is Midhun Manuel Thomas. The screenplay keeps you engaged from start to finish. You become part of the narrative and you know you have a winner when this happens. The first half ends on a high and you feel the energy is dipping in the second half. However all of this is justified in act 3 which is about 20 minutes long. The pay off is worth the wait. You will probably guess who the real culprit is but you will convince yourself you are wrong because of the emotional connection to the characters. And yet something happens in the end that you couldn't have guessed.

Very rarely do you feel like rewatching a suspense thriller because you know what the suspense is. This is one of those movies. I will gladly rewatch Garudan.

I enjoyed every bit of this crime thriller. What a movie! I remember people saying it's a sleeping pill but this movie was very much engaging for me. Classy story from Midhun Manuel Thomas and a superb direction from Arun Varma. There have been similar attempts in Hollywood, but that didn't dissuade me from proceeding with this one.

The movie is kind of slow-paced, but the story is incredibly smooth, and it won't allow you to fast-forward even for a second. All the supporting actors were amazing in their respective roles. I would have given it 9 stars, but some dialogues were too much for Suresh Gopi, and it would have been great if the creators had avoided that.

Biju Menon needs a separate paragraph. He has come a long way. What an actor! I would like to attach this movie to Biju Menon rather than the lead SG. It's a Biju Menon 'show' throughout.

Do give it a watch.

A staright forward story line into a Engaging Solid Thriller ,that is Impressive !

A good directorial debut by Arun Varma and Excellent writing by Midhun Manuel Thomas is the Differnce here,he is becoming Expert in delivering Thrillers !

Music by Jakes Bejoy gave the Perfect support and Standout performances from both Suresh Gopi & Biju Menon !

It is not typical investigative thriller genre,it more like character driven face of beetweem the two male leads !

Suresh gopi as always shines in police role and biju menon done excellent job too !

A Neatly crafted thriller Deserved to be experince from theaters.

A young girl Theresa(Chaithanya) is raped and slips to coma. IPS officer harish madhav(Suresh gopi) with the help of the eyewitness salam(jagadeesh) arrests professor nishanth(biju menon). The court sentence nishanth for life imprisonment. 7 years later, nishanth is released from prison losing his family, career and dignity. Nishanth appeals to high court that the investigation was done hastily and wins the case by being the advocate himself. Nishanth wins back his family and starts working as a public prosecutor. On the other hand, harish who was retired is asked to pay compensation to nishanth for framing him. Where the whole world starts believing nishanth's innocence, harish is still adamant that he is not done a mistake. Rest of the film is harish trying to prove that he was right or not.

Story of garudan is interesting and first half was pretty good. But second half loses grip were suresh gopi turns alcoholic and stubborn to prove he was right. Climax was also a bit underwhelming as the killer could have been well explored. It could have been more creepy but makers tried to play safe.

On the whole, garudan is a decent one time watch.