Neerali Review: A Dwindling Cliffhanger That Manages To Thrill At Parts!

Neerali, starring Mohanlal in the lead role is the big release of the day (July 13, 2018). Read Neerali review here to know how the film has turned out to be.

Rating:
2.5/5
Star Cast: Mohanlal, Nadhiya, Megha Mathew, Bineesh Kodiyeri, Suraj Venjaramoodu
Director: Ajoy Varma

Neerali, the Mohanlal starrer was bound to have huge expectations surrounding it. It is the first release of Mohanlal in the year 2018 and at the same time, the movie looked to be really refreshing and experimental, offering something new to the Malayalam cinema. Has Neerali lived up to the hype and expectations and given a special treat to the Malayalam film audiences? Read Neerali review here to get the answers.

Sunny George is a gemologist by profession and he works with a company. One day, he travels by road from Bangalore To Kozhikkode with Veerappa, who is a driver of his company. But, things go haywire when the truck that they are travelling meets with an accident en route and the vehicle hangs from a cliff, with both the passengers stuck inside.

Neerali Review: Throws Away The Opportunity To Become An Edge-of-the-seat Thriller!

The plot of the film is impressive with it having everything in it to provide for an edge-of-the-seat survival thriller. In films of this genre, what matters the most are the sequences and scenes, which show the attempts of the protagonist to survive and come out of the near-death situations. Such elements along with some twists and turns are so crucial. But the screenplay of Neerali, especially in the second half, fails to provide the moments that are much required to make the survival thriller catchy and captivating.

The first half of Neerali does start off on a promising note with the movie taking a back-and-forth route in the narrative pattern. We are introduced to the lead characters and there are some light moments to offer. Mohanlal-Suraj combo has worked out pretty well, with the scenes involving them engaging the audiences. The first half ends on a note, which would really leave the audiences eager to watch the proceedings.

Neerali Review: Throws Away The Opportunity To Become An Edge-of-the-seat Thriller!

At the same time, the second half was something drastically opposite to what was expected as the film drops down on a disappointing note with many sequences failing to take forward the thrilling elements that it had promised. There are even some logical loopholes which should have been dealt with carefully in the script.

Neerali is majorly set in one location and it has to be said that the director hasn't done complete justice with his work. While he was impressive with his packaging in the first half, the things went haywire in the second half, during which he was rushing through to get to the predictable finishing point without convincing the audiences about the proceedings.

The cinematography by Santhosh Thundiyil is splendid and at the same time, editing was just OK. The film depends too much on VFX and the team has done a decent job, except the song sequences. The songs by Stephen Devassy were good and the BGM too was nice.

Mohanlal has done complete justice to the role of Sunny George and he has come up with a notable performance. At times, it is his convincing performance as the lead character, which shoulders the film from going too low in the second half. Suraj Venjaramoodu gets to play a meaty role and he has done a fine job. Dileesh Pothan was wasted in a poorly written role and same was the case with Nadhiya Moidu. At the same time, Parvatii Nair has impressed with her performance. Nasser too was wasted in a miniscule role.

Neerali has its own share of good moments to offer in terms of performances and some thrilling moments, but they solely couldn't make it a captivating watch till the end. It has to be said that the makers have missed out on a big chance to make it an edge-of-the-seat survival thriller.

Read more about: neerali mohanlal

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