User reviews

Odiyan was the culmination of more than 2 years of intense and unwilling determination of several individuals and artists, that worked their assess of and promoted the Mohanlal starrer to sky high limits. The hype and anticipation surrounding Odiyan cannot be replicated by no other film in an industry within the same limits that Odiyan achieved it. It would take a year, nay 2 at the least to get the status and promotion that Odiyan managed to grab within its production time. By means of measuring the crew's work ethic on Promotion and Marketing, they should receive a thunderous and welcoming applause. This is also part reason why the film failed in its early screenings to get the reaction that they so badly anticipated.

Odiyan is next in the club of 'sky hype films that failed to impress'. Kammara Sambhvam, Kayamkulam Kochunni (critically), Villain, Gangster, Casanova and now Odiyan all are films that should have performed way well critically based on the aura surrounding the release and hype. It's not that the film is bad, it's partly because of the trust that they audience entrust into the hands of the Director to make their 'Star' God-like. And when they fail in that respect, they should at least utilise the power and people support that the actor possesses. Pre-release Inflated collections, Overkill tweets and media attention all were part of the Odiyan-killing fest.

Odiyan works in parts in its own way. It becomes grounded and closer to reality than you probably expected. It was presented well, as a folklore, a mystery but what we came down to was some guys earning money by scaring other dudes. But it wasn't BAD. It's all about perspective and probably the only thing one can say to console themselves.

Odiyan excels in its songs, the technical aspects, the powerful and excellent BGM and most of the lead performances. Manju Warrier's performance was meh. It wasn't too good nor too bad. It was just Manju Warrier playing Manju Warrier generic roles. Sana Althaf did her part right. And the supporting cast just yells excellence. From Siddique to Prakash Raj, the lead cast is often tipped over by the overflowing supporting casts. The direction was fine. The handling of the script and putting together the film could have been way, way better. It just shows why a debutant can't make miracles, let alone handle one. I can't say if Mohanlal is used completely here. He does evoke all the necessary emotions at the right time and deserves to be the spotlight. But the lack of characters that has actual lines in comparison to characters that are so one dimensional they are just there to glorify and praise Mohanlal.

Praise be to the crew. They did what they could do and did wonders. The VFX, the other technical aspects were all fine and doesn't give any hiccups to spare. Shrikumar Menon is the central figure that everyone is gonna throw stones at. And Odiyan just might be something that we may never 'forget'.

Odiyan's strong start and strong finish barely makes it a strict one time watch. Watch it for Mohanlal and the brilliantly crafted atmosphere for which i applaud the Cinematography for. Odiyan is no film that achieves wonders. But it is still a film made with good intentions, ain't?

We have seen him rise from the water in Naran and Narasimham; in Odiyan too he does the same but this time by saving a drowning lady in his hands. Later on, he returns to his native village Thenkurissi after a long gap of 15 years and sits beneath a giant tree with a cup of tea. In an attempt to provoke him, a group of youngsters mocks him and challenges his abilities on Odividya and here come the age-old gimmicks one by one. His leg swirls like what he did before a fight scene in previous mass masala flicks; he then stands up and ties his long hair backward ( cut to Aaram Thampuran where he did the same with a slight difference of the hair been replaced by a red scarf), clubs his fingers together (copy paste shot in Yodha prior to an action sequence) and walks away pointing his index finger against opponents (replica mode of feudal heroism in Devasuram and Raavanaprabhu)! Mission accomplished??

Odiyan Manickyan is indeed an impactful character in Superstar Mohanlal's career but molded indistinctly by writer Harikrishnan and executed awfully by debutant director Shrikumar Menon. The non-linear mode of storytelling is brilliantly done by writer-director Vetrimaran with an engaging plot in recent Tamil hit Vada Chennai whereas, in Odiyan the screenplay itself is too shallow to be weaved in a similar manner and hence failed to evoke any interest in the narration. The first half goes on smoothly through the early life of Manickyan and it is delightful to see the physical transformation of Mohanlal to become the younger Manickyan aided with a chiseled body and acrobatic moves in the fight sequences. Hailing from a low caste faction, his loyalty towards urban childhood lover Prabha (Manju Warrier) is justified; but the concept of denying her love is an unwise decision, considering the stubborn Manickyan is over the top in every occasion tackling hurdles in his life.

The grey shaded Ravunni (Prakash Raj) is lustful for Prabha and does as many tricks as he can to get her in his life. He is from the upper caste community and surprisingly the only dark colored member in the high-class family! How come? The flawed script has the answer in a dialogue from Prabha to Ravunni, "Your mind is also dark like your body". Here the storyteller follows a mysterious path in convincing the antagonist as evil-minded via skin tone and at the same time Manickyan, born to a proletariat grass-root couple is exceptionally handsome with a glowing skin just because he is the protagonist! The writing is absurd and loosely bound; for instance, it took 15 years for Manickyan to track the assassin behind Prabha's husband whereas the viewers can easily figure out the culprit within first few minutes of the movie. Direction too fall flat in many occasions with the magical song "Kondoram" induced in the later half towards the climax thereby making the film more dilute and faded.

Furthermore, we have a tea shop owner Damodaran (Siddique) who is the feel-good companion of Manickyan for the appraisal in prime moments and a spirited Gopi Mash essayed by Innocent to glorify the devil-may-care acts of the central character (ditto of Kadutha in Puli Murugan). Packed with these bundle of cliches, Odiyan is a classic example of how a mediocre script evolves out if landed in the hands of an amateur director. By equipping the film with Hollywood technicians and marketing it as an out-of-the-box product, the ad-filmmaker-turned-director is solely accountable for the outburst of diehard Mohanlal fans. Not as dull as Neerali or not as monotonous as Drama, Odiyan is definitely a better outing from the superstar but not a complete package for the cinephiles to cherish.

Poor directed movie. Movie is laging in second half. But mohanlal done his best.

Yes there was potential but an ambitious project like this needs skillful men behind this.With both the writer and director failing at their job its a collosal disappointment.

Expectations were lot from Peter Hein who rocked last time with Pulimurugan. But with an ordinary work he is also in the blacklist here.Even the much talked about 'Odi' scenes aren't convincing as most of them looks silly.

Coming to the cast all the roles are poorly etched apart from @Mohanlal and a talented protagonist material like Prakash Raj is offered a plastic character which is another flaw.

Technically the visuals are top notch and Sam's bgm work is commendable but the same cannot be said about editing which acts as a villain for the films non-linear narration.

And about the hero @Mohanlal , we all know how much effort and pain he has gone through for this project but in the wrong hands all of that goes in vain. But his appearance is one of the few positives in this weak film.

I am actually a mammootty fan..but i was waiting for this film as it was having a very high promotion..and now totally dissappointed..i didnt get 10% of my expectations..thankyou

I fail to understand the harsh criticism this movie has received so far. Is Odiyan extraordinary? No. But it is a really good family entertainer. The movie is loaded with interesting concepts, some fine acting by Mohanlal, visual treats and great stunts. It does drag in parts, but is definitely worth watching for the numerous positives it has to offer.

Odiyan was one of the most awaited films of 2018. Sad to say that the movie fell pray for over-promotions and hype.

If you just keep the above said stuff aside, Odiyan is definitely worth a watch in theatre, just because of the sheer effort put in by Mohanlal for the role of Odiyan Manickyan.

About the movie, a fast paced action-drama filled first half. A slow paced emotional-revenge type second half, and a satisfying climax is what Odiyan has got in store for you. Do give it a try in theatres as I feel it is worth a watch. My rating - 9/10

P.S - I felt that more of horror could have been added in such a potential subject, if a bit of the emotion & action were avoided.

Narration should have been a different method , starting with a decent flashback would have helped the movie well ,Other than with a split flashback space for each reason.

And music is sweet and melodies but the background music should have improved with two three style .

Fight and stund scene are superb

Cinematography was good with usual shots at different angles

Editing was also with usual cuts

All over introduction of the star should have kept in the second half " odiyan "entrance should have kept in the first to give a great hype to understand about the character then movie starts... Great attempt

1st half is good and only the animation part in 1st half is disappointing.When coming to 2nd half there is lot of lag.The climax fight is terrible. Mnju warir is not at all a good choice for the female lead role.

This movie, lead by the great Mohanlal, sets an example for malayalam film industry as it so beautifully demonstrates the product of ambitious thinking and hard work put together. Ambitious, as for the theme of this movie, which stands out as something that has been never told before in cinema- The legend of Odiyan. This highly ambitious concept is invested heavily with a couple years of hard work and dedication by the crew,and it shows. I can't in any way undermine the effort and dedication by Mohanlal and his performance gives this movie it's much needed power to penetrate peoples' mind. His performance is beautifully enhanced by other great actors and actresses around him, especially Manju Warrier and Prakash Raj. Manju has recently been criticized for her uni dimensional roles and a lack of credibility for her performances. Odiyan can be considered her finest performance since her comeback in 2014, and in some ways reminds us of her strong, most remembered characters. Prakash Raj plays the role of the villain, who in my opinion didn't have too much to do. The characterization of the villain is in my opinion, one of those negatives you would find in this movie. Other than that everyone did their role well and no one disappointed. Coming to the most anticipated part, the graphics and VFX, i would honestly say it was good enough to not make you feel disappointed but not good enough given it's budget.and the potential the story had, to make use of good quality graphics. But again, it cannot be considered a huge crime for the time being. Another thing we were all so curiously waiting for in this movie was the fight and action sequences. This is one thing that i really enjoyed in this movie and i would go as far as to say that the fight scenes and action sequences were far better than those in PULIMURUGAN which was also choreographed by Mr.Peter Hein. The screenplay and dialogues were also good and engaging. Although it may seem to lag in a few places(which i did not feel in any way) , overall the writing and direction is very good, supported by good cinematography. The music department is one more thing to be excited about in this movie as it gives you the feel and emotion which the situation demands. I strongly disagree with those people who say that the songs are misplaced and unnecessary. I think those songs do match perfectly with the situation and blends smoothly with the story. Overall, Odiyan is a movie backed heavily with a fresh concept, good direction and powerful, dedicated performances by the actors. A film with all the qualities of a good entertainer with class written all over it. A MUST WATCH FILM FOR ALL THE WELL WISHERS OF MALAYALAM FILM INDUSTRY AND ALSO FANS OF OUR OWN GREAT "LALETTAN". This movie is worth all the hard work and effort. PLEASE DO WATCH IT.

Odiyan is an average movie, certainly destroyed by over hyping and equally degraded by "Fans" of other clans. It had a great premise for epic movie but felt short due to below average script and lagging story telling. Mr Menon as an experienced Ad director knows how to promote his film, but needless "Thallall" increased the expectation to such a peak but failed to deliver even 20% of what he vouched.

Looks like the advertisement director stretched a 1 min ad film into a 2 hr movie. The "big budget" is unfortunately in the marketing, not in the movie.

Bad and predictable plot. Poor direction and cinematography. Disappointing vfx. Major snooze fest.

Poor direction. Avg performance by Lal. Not worth the time. Honestly I don't know why there was a hype.

Mohanlal - superbbb👌👌👌(as usually) Prakash Raj- superb Direction - disaster Screenplay- good Climax - worst ever 1st half - feel good 2nd half - 😬😬😬 Vfx - worst ever (LIKE VIJAY'S PULI ) Action - Inconspicuous due to direction

One of the worst movies ever made in malayalam.dont waste your time and money on this crap.

Mohanlal at his best. To be honest, this film is really a cinematography focused movie. The folklore was given justice by the script. Palakkad's beauty and grimness is equally narrated. The climax sucked. And every movie is judged by it's climax but this film's scenes are just enjoyable.

May be He thought movies like ad .. With nonsense and stupid with simple one line story to make 2hours film .. Our Indian ads and TV soap opera doesn't make anysense and zero logic whatever ... This was expensive Malayalam film directed like TV AD ... Moreover fight scenes makes me silly and ridiculous not in a good way .... Intro scene was like some fancy school drama .. DISAPPOINTING WITH DIRECTOR HE HAS NO CALIBRE TO MAKE ANY FILM ..

First of All, I am not an Mohanlal fan or a mammooty fan. I just watch movies and support if they are good. I watched Odiyan FDFS. Don't expect an superhero movie. Odiyan is an Classic + Mass family movie with a wonderful acting of all the actors. The only bad thing about this movie is it's director and his direction. He is a good business man who wanted a bigger collection for his movie, but not a good director. You will not waste your money by seeing Odiyan.

The bitter truth is ,most awaited movie in Malayalam, doesn't live up to its hype. Movie is all about lost opportunities. However you get to watch an emotional drama with some good acting moments by Mohanlal and Manju.. Concept did have good scope for suspense, thrills and mass scenes but did not get utilized well. Director and the VFX team failed in the scenes of Odiyan transformation.It merely looked like school days fancy dress. Since most of the Odiyan action happens at night, lighting should have been the best, but here the darkness helps in just covering up the poor vfx. Since director had tried to keep many things realistic, the same should have been done for the transformed odiyan animals.Eg: Cannot compare Mohanlal's figure matching the size of the deer shown in movie. A bulky deer would have done more justice I feel. There was a huge hype about Mohanlal losing weight for this movie and went clean shave to portray Young Manikyan- Initial motion picture also gave good hope -there was a good scope for a mass entry scene to satisfy audience and fans. Director failed again - and simply showed a drunk Mohanlal as young Manikyan struggling to walk with a stick in hand. Climax fight was total let down. Lighting was poor, and vfx was bad, director failed again to capture the awesome stunts by Peter. It looked more like Pulimurugan stunt in a fancy dress and a total illogical fire scene. To conclude- You can watch the movie once to know what the age old Odiyan scares were all about, Mohanlal and Manju's acting ,songs, BGM and the beauty of Palakkad(which is one of the highlights).

Do not watch the movie expecting great vfx or suspense or great direction or grand sets or pulimurugan level action or thrills.

While the movie starts with an interesting concept , Odiyan lags a story and the entire plot is loosely built on that one concept. It turns boring and tests the patience after the interval. Doesn't have any suspense factors and the story is very predictable. Wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone who loves Mohanlal

As a super star of mollywood mohanlal maintained his stardom throughout the film.Eventhough the story has little minute errors those are avoidable.Its a highly recommend movie if you love fantasy movies

Odiyan is a much awaited movie in mollywood which is a very hyped movie in the career of Mohanlal. The reason for all the expectation about this movie came from the fact that director Sreekumar Menon described the movie as one of the best action thrillers ever came in this industry , he guaranteed top notch action scenes and superb vfx will be in the movie, a budget of around 35 crores for this movie also given expectations in the minds of the fans about the quality of this movie. But when movie released all those huge expectations were shattered.

Positives:

* The movie had a simple but convincing story which is closer to reality even though some obscure fantasy elements mixed in

*Performance from Mohanlal is especially good he has given an emotional portrayal of a person alienated and feared by almost everyone, Manju Warrier and everyone else also did their part well

*Nothing special to mention about action scenes but they were not bad could have been improved

*Camerawork was good, beauty of the village is captured well and night scenes required a bit more brightness but it was adjustable at most times

Negatives:

*Character of Prakash Raj in the villainous role was not convincing enough his intentions were cliched and his dubbing also felt out of place and lacked emotional impact

*Climax of the movie was not up to the mark, the action in the climax should have been better

*Slow pace for an action thriller is always a fun killer it was the case here also at least 20 minutes could have been trimmed to make the movie more fast paced and interesting

*Since the movie had big budget vfx should have been better but here most of the scenes felt as cheap and unconvincing

*Though the movie was labeled as fantasy/thriller both of these elements were very limited in the movie , Odiyan was more of an emotional drama

Conclusion:- Odiyan is an average entertainer which will be moderately satisfying to the viewers if they lower their expectations about the movie