Prithviraj Sukumaran plays a gold smuggler named Aamir Ali. He spends most of his time battling his enemies played by Shammi Thilakan and Neil Nitin Mukesh. As the two sides try to outwit each other, you expect some cleverness in the tactics. But all we get is brute force, repetitive action, and tons of exhausting slo-mo. That’s the basic storyline and the quick review. A longer analysis follows, and it may contain spoilers.
Vysakh’s last film with a big star was Turbo, where he relied so much on Mammootty’s charisma that he forgot to give the actor a part to sink his teeth into. At least in that respect, Khalifa is an improvement. At least on the surface, there is a good story here about an OG gold smuggler, Ahmed, and his grandson, Aamir, played by Prithviraj Sukumaran. In the middle of these two generations, we have Renji Panicker as Aamir’s father, Younus. He did not want to follow his father in his racketeering ways and is now worried that his son has taken up smuggling. What makes it worse is that Younus is the reason Aamir has taken up smuggling. So there is an element of helplessness and moral struggle, and it is opposed by people who were Ahmed’s friends and who are delighted that an able young person – namely, Aamir – has come to take over the business.
This is a damn good story that spans a long timespan. There is the potential for action as well as drama, and there’s also the numerous ways in which gold smuggling takes place. These are some of the most entertainingly amoral parts of the movie. But the screenplay by Jinu V Abraham is a mess. Khalifa opens with the arrest of Aamir’s friend, and there’s a twist about who ratted him out. But this is one of those things that exists to show what a good man Aamir is, and this whole subplot serves no purpose. I think they wanted to show that Aamir’s entry into the smuggling business hasn’t changed him as a person, but there are other ways this could have been done. For instance, Aamir has a wife, a mother. Even one or two solid conversations with them could have fleshed out his feelings, his misgivings. But these female characters remain just that: a generic wife, a generic mother.
Shammi Thilakan and Neil Nitin Mukesh play Aamir’s enemies. Even here, you could have had something interesting with the games of oneupmanship. But we know Aamir is always going to come out on top, and these villains turn out to be paper tigers. In the end, we are left with lots of slo-mo swagger. This is the kind of movie where even Indrans gets his share of elevation music. Every time Aamir finds himself in a tough spot, we should be biting our nails about how he will get out of it. But these details are not written for a character. They are written for a hero. Even the action scenes get exhausting because the slo-mo makes them feel like they are going on and on. At one point, a woman tells Aamir that he wants to be with his family. He shows no such signs. He just wants to be cool, and the star cameos at the end finally measure up to this coolness. But by then, it’s too little, too late.
