Grab from the movie
By Neeraj Nanda
MELBOURNE, 17 December 18: You have heard about Charles Shobhraj, the bikini killer on the run and his various escapades.There are many movies about him and the recently streamed serial (The Serpent on Netflix). His name resounds in the crime genre. He is currently imprisoned in Nepal. But Sukumara Kurup, Kerala’s legandery fugitive has been on the run and untraceable for 40 years. This chap is no less than Charles Shobhraj, evading arrest can easily be called the desi Shobhraj (Charles Shobraj was half Sindhi, half Vietnamese).
Kurup, the Malayalam-language movie released November this year, is the fourth movie on Sukamara Kurup. Now streaming on Netflix, it’s available in Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada with English subtitles. Seeing the Hindi version, I felt, intensely engaged and curious. One wonders why are crime and criminal acts entertaining, or maybe, penetrating one’s conscious.
Anyway, the story is simple. After failing his school exam Kurup (Dulquer Salmaan) joins the Indian Air Force but that’s not his cup of tea. Along with a few others he murders Chacko to fake his own death and to claim Rupees 8 lakhs. Falls in love with a nurse and flees overseas with a new identity.The movie traces step by step Kurup’s run across India and overseas. A blend of reality and fiction spices up the movie. Never did I feel switching off the movie, though at times it becomes over-stretched.
Grab from the movie.
Kurup is shown in Persia working for a royal. One wonders why the name ‘Persia’ is used and not ‘Iran’. Probably, the period is the pre-Khomaini Iran. The sets are well done as they ably portray the 1970s, 1980s and so on (Ambassador cars, movie posters etc.).The many faces (styles) of Kurup reflect his ability to fake his identity ably. The con man is smart and intelligent. In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Rasdkolmikov, remorseless killer plays cat and mouse with the law. Karup, does the same (as the movie shows) and is an outlaw now for 40 years. The movie does not discuss whether he is alive or dead at present.
The movie was shot in in Palakkad, Thrissur, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Bhopal and Dubai. I wish if the movie can be dubbed in English and shown to the world. A good movie needs global recognition. There have been allegations the movie promotes a criminal and crime. I disagree. Good and evil (depends how one defines them) have always co-existed. Any human story can be filmed. Every life is a story.
Cast- Malquer Salamaan, Indrajith Sukumaran, Sobhita Dhulipala, Shine Tom Chacko, Sunny Wayne, Tovino Thomas, Bharat Srinivasan, Anand Bal, Suresh Oberai and others.
Producers- Prasanth Kumar and Chandran.
Director- Srinath Rajendran.
Music- Sulaiman Kakkodan, Sushin Shyam and Leo Tom.
Cinematography- Nimish Ravi
Film Editing- Vivek Harsan.
With everything (direction, acting etc.) in the movie superb., I give it 4 out of five stars.
TRAILER
