The Indian audience has a special inclination for thriller movies irrespective of any of its sub-genres. Its demand has increased so huge that writers and directors are experimenting with the genres in different versions, or more correctly, in different faces.
But can it be believed that once upon a time, when thriller movies were released in Malayalam cinema, it would be a box-office disaster not due to their faulty making but the dislike of the genre? Binged would like to suggest such a movie, which hence became a motivation to many filmmakers in conceiving crime-thriller flicks.
‘Mukham’ (Eng. The Face) was released in 1990 with a change of track in the Malayalam film industry due to its compelling genre of crime-thriller which was not previously much introduced to local audiences. The flick talks about the conflict between a police officer and a serial killer who has committed three murders and attempting to do the fourth. Assistant Commissioner of Police Hariprasad IPS is in charge of the investigation which is the character played by actor Mohanlal and Commissioner P.N Narendran IPS is his superior, the character which is played by Tamil-Telugu actor Nassar.
More than the performances of the actors, the concept and screenplay of this movie are discussed even today and this attempt was an experimental effort during that time. However, actor Mohanlal had a different kind of emulation compared to his other characters of police officers. This character possesses a distinct and intellectual policing and is bearable to watch.
The director of this movie was veteran Mohan who passed away recently. It was produced by Anupama Mohan and written by Mani Swamy along with Joseph Madapally, Anandhu and Mohan respectively. Saroj Padi handled the cinematography and editing was done by Ravi Kiran. Legendary music director Johnson Master did the composition.
Recently released cop movies like ‘Golam’, ‘Thalvan’ and ‘Anweshipin Kandethum’ had standard references with this movie. Also, previously released malayalam movies like ‘Memories’ (2013) and ‘Grandmaster’ (2012) were inspired by this underrated effort. The movie can be watched on OTT Platforms like Jio Cinema or Disney+Hotstar.
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