Rifle Club

In what would have been a breakthrough movie in Malayalam by choice of the canvas of gun violence and the underlying theme of "seige/survival" .. the expectations however turned bitter due to shoddy script, poor direction and less than convincing performance by many except of Anurag Kashyap and to a little extent of Dileesh Pothen.

The firing exchanges were poorly choreographed possibly failing in trying to lift some ideas from well rounded western movies like the Magnificent Seven and others.

The overall theme of "Seige & Survival" is a tried and tested formula with much success right from the legendary 1950 Akiro Kurosowa movie "Seven Samurai". This formula is always amenable to innovation as seen in the 2018 Fahd Fasil movie "Varathan" (the outsider) making the movie a runaway success at the box office.

The beginnings of the movie indicate an existential struggle within the plot & by the director failing to narrate a coherent thread .. this lends an impression to the discerning viewer of watching several disjointed YouTube videos.

The plot picks up momentum after intermission with a lot of fairy tale aggression by gun toting youth against seasoned members of a well rounded rifle club ensconed deep within the jungles of the western ghats where big game hunt is the favourite past time and target practice the hobby.

The principal takeaway from the movie was the great opportunity available to showcase firearms of different categories and calibre which could have ignited in the young generation a passion to pursue shooting and there were fleeting moments where one could enjoy the thrill of clay pigeon/flying target shooting in competitive mode by the club members. That was the only silver lining in the movie apart from the outstanding emote by actor Sri Anurag Kashyap who literally carried the movie on his shoulders. The tactical play of emotions enacted by him in retrieving his seriously wounded son from within the rifle club was a brilliant masterpiece.

The downside in the movie was the excessive gun violence depicted which was unnecessary to drive home the plot and to an extent seemed both faked as well as absurd. How much it will appeal to our benign masses here remains to be seen .. though in my view the movie would get better acceptance in places where gun control laws are lax and anyone desiring to defend himself has access to a personal firearm.

Another noxious aspect was the use of very foul language between a father and a son which could have been edited or moderated appropriately without decreasing the intensity of emotion in that phase of the plot.

The DNA of siege movies is the tactical ingenuity depicted by the heavily outnumbered ones in overcoming their adversaries in the climax of the movie which shoots the thrill factor through the ceiling. The movie to an extent toys with and succeeds as evidenced by the wild cheering that arises in the movie hall.

How can one forget the terminal sequences of action in the movie "Varathan" which nearly filled the eyes of the movie goers with tears of joy by the gratuitous grand finale.

The movie "Rifle Club" ups the antee at the climax but everything appears on expected lines at the end making the movie peter out tamely like firing a blank cartridge when a real one was the necessity.

The movie though fictional and perched in the distant past showcases big game hunt, which is an anathema in our life and times where concerns of wildlife depletion and their habitat loss plague us daily.

Finally I can only say that a brilliant opportunity was lost due to the lack of knowledge of those behind the movie .. which if researched well and taken time to craft would have ended as another landmark movie in Malayalam cinema for such is the strength of the "Seige/Survival" theme in the genre of action movies.

Better luck next time .. ..

It will be interesting to hear the views of the much respected Major Ravi on this movie. We need to look forward to it.