Gold Review - Tiresome Melting Process!

Ashwin Ram

Malayalam film Gold is Alphonse Puthren's third directorial venture following Neram and Premam. The movie stars Prithviraj and Nayanthara in the lead roles.

Premise:

One morning, Prithviraj finds a random mini truck in his front yard. After a series of doubts, he opens the load and smartly cracks it is stuffed with Gold. And, the play begins.

Writing/ Direction:

The director mentioned in an interview that he concentrates mostly on post-production more than anything else. He has stayed true to his words, by focusing a lot on how interestingly to present the film as a big screen experience. The plot is simple yet sufficient enough for a quirky-thriller, but the happenings don’t help us get going with flow in a likable manner. The initial kick settles soon as the unfolding process occupies the entire first half, the film is that much of a slow burn. The sluggish pace is never a problem for a flick of this genre, the issue is that the situations are weak and offer zero excitement. The approach is realistic and also has Alphonse Puthren’s unique style of treatment to it, a cinematic combination that should have done wonders becomes a big blow as the screenplay is boring and every sequence drags to a huge extent. There are a truckload of characters, but most of them have no major attraction to the story except the male lead. If at least the artist count was reduced, we could have got a crisper and a better version of the existing product. There are a bunch of smart wacky ideas in the flow which impress as moments, unfortunately not as full-fledged scenes. Even after the main subject is over, the movie runs for quite some time, plus the climax reveal is so clichéd. Overdose of metaphors which didn’t help the storytelling much at many places.

Performances:

Solid act by Prithviraj, artist-wise, he has carried the film single-handedly on his shoulders. The man is full of focus and so natural too. Nayanthara hardly appears for three scenes and her role feels like it’s kept for namesake. The two police officers had work to do and they played their part neatly. Suresh Gopi in a different avatar, but his role backfires due to poor writing intent. Same with Ajmal and many others. There’s a lady who comes as Prithviraj’s mother, her only job is to cook and make tea for people visiting her house, I mean show her as you wish, but the character is totally unnecessary to the movie. The cameos are instantly exciting as they appear, but the value drops to ground level after we realize how lazy they have been used.

Technicalities:

Technically the film is super rich and there’s no doubt about it. The songs are fun on the first listen itself, more like they are impressive to be viewed along with the visuals. Background music is the backbone of the film, score here is such a joy ride. Great camera work in and out, lovely shot compositions and colouring. Keeping aside the needlessly lengthy runtime, the cuts are crazy. Astonishing experience to see the above said technical departments coming together under one roof for every single frame, only Alphonse Puthren can pull it off and present wisely. Phenomenal in terms of sound effects, hats off to the mixing team for working so much on calibration of dialogues. Highlighting the key words in written form is fine, but that is overdone after a point.

Bottomline

The film struggles to find its momentous space by trying to be a quirky entertainer as well as a serious thriller. Even some unique ideas that exist are only how to technically present the film well, no focus on writing and storytelling.

Rating: 2.25/ 5