Kanal is watchable

Mohanlal teaming up with director M Padmakumar after 5 years, after the highly forgettable 'Shikkar'.... Firstly I would like to talk about Shikkar. M Padmakumar's first collaboration with Mohanlal had a wonderful theme but it was poorly written and crafted. Five years later the same team M Padmakumar - scenarist Suresh Babu- Mohanlal have come out with Kanal. Kanal ends up being a better film. What makes Kanal a better offering than Shikkar is the narrative which is quite gripping.

A major portion of the film is set in the Middle East and the film constantly touches upon the recession of 2009 that took its toll in Gulf countries and the people living there. As the narrator (voiced by Prithviraj) says, it's their story too. That brings me to one of the best aspect of the film. The antagonist of Kanal is not the stereotypical villain usually associated with mainstream Malayalam cinema, which was quite surprising. Another major strength of Kanal is its finale, which is one of the most beautiful, hard-hitting climax seen in recent times. The presence of two amazing actors makes it quite special.

SubmitKanal happens to be a tale of revenge.  Revenge has been a recurring subject in cinema for ages. Still it finds audience. And if still the audience gets captivated by a revenge tale, Kanal can be termed as a success. That said, Kanal is not a perfect revenge saga. It almost turns out into a tiring watch in the first half. Things get better post interval when the film gets into a thriller mode thus making it a watchable fare. The film could have been much better had the director made the first half tighter by trimming off some of the unwanted scenes and songs.

Coming to the performances, needless to say Mohanlal was highly effective as John David. Anoop Menon too sharing equal screen space does a fantastic job. Even with minimal dialogues, the extremely talented Atul Kulkarni delivers a stellar performance. Others including Honey Rose, Nikita, Pratap Pothen, Sheelu Abraham, Jose, Innocent, Kochupreman have done a fine job. Coming to the music department, expected a lot more from someone like Ouseppachan, but he has done a brilliant job with the background score.

Kanal is certainly not the comeback of Mohanlal that his ardent fans would love to see. But it's surely a satisfactory experience that you won't regret.