“Masterpiece” fails to be a masterpiece

It is another festival time. And as usual we have the Big M of M’Town out with a “festival movie”. Mammootty’s “Masterpiece” attempts to woo us with its fights and thrills. But how far it succeeds is a question. The recipe is all right. The ingredients are all there. But the mixing and execution falls flat. Mammootty’s heroisms lend some mass feel to the movie. But the plot and dialogues doesn’t offer him much. Also, the movie is too much formulistic to have a fresh feel. The makers have attempted a mass entertainer, but clichés stand in the way. Also the movie feels very familiar to another movie released recently. “Masterpiece” starts off as a campus movie and then becomes an investigative thriller.

The movie is set in the Tranvancore Maharajas College. The college has two warring student factions – the real fighters and the royal warriors. Their petty tiffs take a serious turn when something untoward happens in the campus. There is an unfortunate death happening and a murder which happens soon after. The gang wars are presented in the least interesting manner. In the middle of all this, and well into the movie arrives our hero. Mammootty plays a professor named Edward Livingston. How he brings about some key changes and brings solution to some pertinent campus issues forms the crux of the narrative. In the meanwhile we have clichés galore. Sexism is rampant. We have the sari clad, naval revealing English teacher sashaying along the corridors sexily and students and others watching on lustily. Poonam Bajwa plays this role. We also have Varalakshmi Sarathkumar playing the role of a police officer. Here too the camera angles and narrative are unflattering.

Mammootty appears as the quintessential hero. He is flattered throughout the movie. Maybe it is to counter the rampant criticism that he chooses movies which are offensive to women. Or maybe it is the writer and director’s discretion. Whatever be, we have the actor mouthing his respect for women. But actions speak louder than words. Those words are simply in vain. There sure are surprises in store for viewers as far as Edward Livingstone is concerned. However, the progression of plot seems familiar and the twist itself is unimpressing. The actor is in his element as the protagonist. However, he is not supported by a good characterisation and plot.

The female actors including Poonam Bajwa and Varalakshmi are there to up the glamour quotient of this “mass” “festival” “entertainer”. We really need to rethink what makes for a mass festive entertainer. The movie seems to take the viewers’ sensibility for granted dishing out such plots and narrating a movie is such a manner. Unni Mukundan and Gokul Suresh are there in important roles. They have not been able to make an impact. The supporting actors does what is required of them.

The technical team only aids in making the movie what it sets out to convey. The camera acts to fulfil the criteria for a typical formula movie, making things look colourful, framing women glamorously and being loud with tones and shades. Editing is passable and ensures continuity in the narration. This one is a long movie running up to less than three hours. Many of the sequences could have been shortened. Songs are typical and loud. BGM is racy and the kind we usually find for investigative thrillers. Direction by Ajay Vasudev and the script by Udayakrishna needed to have had a freshness in thought and execution.

“Masterpiece” fails to be a masterpiece. It fails to be even a passable piece. Only Mammootty's charm keeps us watching this movie.

Rating – 2/5