Kooman

Kooman is a testament to Jeethu Joseph's skill in crafting seat-edge thrillers. It also extracts an insanely good performance from Asif Ali - playing a fairly intelligent cop named Giri, who also decides to embark on a series of burglaries as a means to get back at his superior officer. The first half shows his ruthlessness at exacting revenge on people who shame or ridicule him at the slightest, and Asif's subtle expression changes during these stretches are fantastic to watch. The screenplay (by KR Krishna Kumar) is also good at tapping into the vulnerable side of a steadfast policeman, and we as viewers are driven to get behind his criminal choices.

In Kooman, we actually get two films instead of one - it's a tale of two halves. While the first focuses on his nightly shenanigans which itself keeps you interested, it further dives into a series of murders happening in the area, and Giri finds himself tied to one of them in unexpected ways. Giri's obsession with robbing people just for kicks is what gets him embroiled in this issue. The film then moves ahead from its initial central conflict and starts to revolve around Giri's unofficial investigation on finding the murderer. If not for the recent events that unfolded in Kerala, the climax would have come across as rather absurd and unbelievable in this day and age. But kudos to the writer and director in their ability to prophesize a ghastly incident, and for executing it in a sufficiently thrilling way.

The villain reveal (and the extended climax) do not fetch any points, mostly since it became rather obvious in the scenes preceding it. The action set-piece is also pretty tame, and the mere mention of a character's queerness (as an excuse for villainy) takes away ½ a star. All said and done, I'll recommend the appropriately-titled Kooman to those who relish thrillers. Special mention to Jaffer Idukki for his wicked performance as a semi-retired thief, especially in that scene where he elucidates the "high" he gets from thieving. Vishnu Shyam's score is also top-notch. Give Asif Ali more such roles, please!

A well made story with a brilliant screenplay by Joseph who doesn't disappoint when it comes to quality cinema.... Asif Ali does have a meaty role and a milestone in his career....being an intellectual cpo shows some matured performance all over the movie but jaffer Idukki is a show stealer though his time space is short he does score even in a voice over scenes...Renji panicker sublte performance may give u an impact in enjoying a perfect cinema...but the movie takes a wrong turn towards the climax which forms a major draw back,doesn't do proper justification in concluding the movie,jeethu should have thought something offbeat or a unfinished climax would have better....but forget last 30mins this movie will give an above average satisfaction coz of poor climax execution.

I would argue Kooman and Memories are the best-directed works by Jeethu Joseph regardless of what someone's personal opinion is about his best film. The protagonist is almost an anti-hero, a regular police constable with a criminal mind. But at the same time, that greyness of the character is treated almost like how Krishna's despicable acts are glossed over as his naughtiness in retellings of Hindu mythology so that even though it's shown like that, there's still space for the audience to perceive the truth of it. Asif Ali fits into this role perfectly and this finally looks like the film that will be successful at the box office which he's in desperate need of right now.

The release of this movie is timed perfectly. The audience can easily relate to the twists in the second half because of recent news and the impact of it, that otherwise would have been considered a little bit far-fetched.

I recently watched Kooman on Amazon Prime, and I have to say, it's definitely one of the better thrillers I've seen in a while. The storyline was gripping and had just the right amount of suspense to keep me interested till the end. The twists were well-placed, and the overall mood of the film was enhanced by the excellent background score and music.

What I really appreciated was how the movie didn't try too hard it just let the story unfold naturally. Asif Ali fitted into the character and nailed with his casual performance. That being said, there were a few scenes that felt unnecessary, almost like they were added just to increase the runtime. They didn't really add much to the story and could've easily been edited out.

Also, a few characters felt incomplete or forgotten. Some were introduced with a bit of buildup but were just left hanging without a proper conclusion. It left me wondering what happened to them or why they were there in the first place.

Also, a few characters felt incomplete or forgotten. Some were introduced with a bit of buildup but were just left hanging without a proper conclusion. It left me wondering what happened to them or why they were there in the first place.

Movie starts off well with excellent acting by Asif and others.. however, the second half of the movie is a bit of a let down and feels rushed and written quite poorly.

The background score and cinematography is top notch as usual for Malyalam movies. It captures the mood quite well, something similar to Drishyam. I love how they captured the small town Kerala feel.

The first half of the movie is really quite well made, but the second half it felt like the writer was just trying to finish the script. I would've gone for a higher rating of they had just stuck to the story of the first half instead of making it a mystery thriller.