When Prithviraj made his directorial debut with Lucifer, it was a film that broke the myths about Malayalam biggies not living to expectations, delivering so much intensity, fun and mass in one film apart from the politics and action. And when he came out with the idea to make the sequel, the hype was double. But does Empuraan deliver as good as the first part?
Not quite. Empuraan starts off with a back story that takes place in 2002, where a village in a Hindi heartland is ruffled and taken down by a big thug, known as Bajrangi. Cut to the present, and we have a political situation that is unique in its own ways, with the mix of characters from the first part – Tovino, Manju Warrier and the others reprise their roles. And then comes the bigwig in the form of Abraam Khureshi, the man running the crime syndicate who takes down a big gang in a deserted land. Empuraan mixes these three storylines with plot points interconnecting each other, and the result is expected to be a mass masala entertainer that is also strong with its politics and emotions. While these are exactly the elements that we found in the first part, we get nothing much of this in the second part which has good political points in it, but the revenge angle and the action feel a bit… stale.
Prithviraj has surely impressed as a director again – his framing and shot-making are the highlight of the film, which is otherwise saved by Mohanlal’s screen presence. Manju Warrier gets a good load of moments in the film, and sometimes, her scenes feel better than the ones her male co-actors get.
The film’s visuals by Sujeeth are strong, and it also gets some good stunt choreography. On the other hand, the music is a big no, both the songs and the BGM do not work at all.
On the whole, Empuraan is a middling political action drama from Mohanlal, Prithviraj and Murali Gopy. More was expected of them.
