Solamante Theneechakal review: Joju George rescues this one-time watch

Solamante Theneechakal directed by Lal Jose revolves around two friends, Glyna (Vincy Aloshious), a civil police officer and Suja (Darshana S Nair), a traffic cop.

Their lives change when a police officer proposes to Suja and is found dead on the same night.

The movie starts with unimpressive scenes, songs and performances.

However, it picks up momentum with the introduction of CI Solomon (Joju George).

If you are a murder mystery fan, you might find the story getting gripping at this point.

Joju George brings his acting finesse into the movies and gives a fresh breath to an otherwise dull narrative.

Flat first half

The poorly constructed scenes in the first hour leave the audience little connected to the suspense that develops in the second half when the movie falls flat.

The movie fails in establishing an emotional connect between the audience and the lead character Suja or her love affair with Sharath (Shambhu Menon) who is one of the murder suspects.

Solomonte Theneechakal Trailer out now
Releasing On Aug 18th in theatres near youhttps://t.co/5euD0pCiDG#ifilms #lifilmsdistribution #solomantetheneechakal#malayalamcinema #malayalamanorama #film #laljose#vidyasagar pic.twitter.com/Qvt3hMMy0v

— Laljose (@Laljosemechery) August 16, 2022

The narration fails to make the audience feel the much-needed suspense of the crime investigation.

Despite having an interesting plot and a couple of decent twists, PG Prageesh’s script fails to reach a crescendo.

The audience response, however, would have been more positive had the movie been made a couple of years earlier.

With exposure to a lot of murder-mystery movies during the pandemic years, the audience has even rejected decent thrillers like Heaven and John Luther.

It is time that the filmmakers rise to the occasion and give much more gripping movies.

Not Lal Jose’s best

Lal Jose, one of my favourite Malayalam directors from my college days, is the man behind great movies like Rendaam Bhavam, Classmates, Arabikkatha, Diamond Necklace, and Ayalum Njanum Thammil.

While this movie is not one of his best works, I sure hope that he comes back stronger with his next one.

Vidyasagar’s background score is good. But, the songs which are used only as speed breakers are nothing refreshing.

Ajmal Sabu’s cinematography is good and the movie is technically as good as any other Lal Jose’s movie.

Joju George, Darshana S Nair and Vincy Aloshious have lived up to the characters leaving no complaints on their part.

The verdict

Regardless of the fine production and solid cast, the weak first half of the movie could not be compensated for in the second half.

However, it doesn’t make it an entirely bad experience as it gets better from the second half.

It is a decent one-time watch and could have been a lot better.

The last half-an-hour of the movie and Joju George help the movie stay afloat.