R ARIVANANTHAM
Crime centric gangster movies keep the audience at their seats’ edge with blood-clotting violence. Many a times they also induce youth to replicate the same in real-time resulting in increase of crimes in the society. Recently, after watching Thala Ajit’s ‘Thunivu’, a youth made an abortive attempt to loot a bank in Tamil Nadu.
- Despite weak storyline, Sundeep Kishan, Vijay Sethupathi shine in technically sound film
- Talented Vijay Sethupathi comes on screen in the second half and it’s actually him who carries the story forward.
- Varalaxmi Sarathkumar has a small role but she has done a good job and the audience roots for her.
All Indian cinemas, irrespective of language, portray Mumbai as the crime capital of India. This film is no exception.
Director Ranjit Jayakodi’s ‘Michael’ is an another gangster film that follows the template of emotional factor that escalates violence to the core. Though the movie has weak storyline, it is technically sound.
Trailer:
This movie set in Mumbai in the 1980s and Michael (Sundeep Kishan), an orphan who has grown up in Bombay, is the person around whom the story revolves.
Gautham Vasudev Menon plays the role of leading gangster in Mumbai as Gurunath saves Michael from assassination – not once but twice.
Gurunath treating Michael as his own son and while Amarnath, Gurunath’s son, watches these treatments with hatred, as Michael was given importance in the gangster group. This leads Gurunath eventually hands over the business of a bar, where few worst gangs in the city frequented as a reward to Michael for saving him from a gang which plotted to kill him.
In the meantime, Gurunath assigns a job for Michael to find out one of the last member of a rival gang was who wanted him dead by giving the photograph of the gangster’s daughter Theera (Divyansha Kaushik).
Following this, Michael heading towards Delhi to stalk Theera (Divyansha Kaushik) and get close to her so that he can find her father and kill him. But Amarnath also has plans of his own. However, things do not go as per plan once he meets Theera. Does he kill Theera’s father? What does Amarnath plan to do? What was Michael’s true motive in saving Gurunath is the rest of the film.
Director Ranjit Jeyakodi starts off the narrative beautifully and it is gripping to watch Sundeep Kishan emerge as the new ‘physical hero’ in Telugu cinema. Though the romance forms the crux of the story, it’s not well written and Divyansha Kaushik’s performance is somewhat OK.
It’s only in the second half, with the introduction of Vijay Sethupathi, that the pace is interesting. When the flashback is narrated and the audience is made to understand why Michael does what he does, the film becomes more engaging.
Sundeep’s effort in transforming himself to play the angry young gangster in Michael is quite obvious and that is commendable. Vijay Sethupathi comes on screen in the second half and it’s actually him who carries the story forward. His acting is effortless and impactful. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar has a small role but she has done a good job and the audience roots for her.
