Smart City

Rajappan · Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 6:28 am Post subject: Smart City

Debutant director B.Unnikrishnan’s Suresh Gopi actioner Smart City is quite absorbing and thrill-a-minute-show worth a watch. Unnikrishnan has given Gopi his best role in recent times since his comeback film Bharathchandran IPS.

The film works to a large extent as it is racy and has twists at regular intervals. Surprisingly for a first timer, Unnikrishnan has made the film slick without resorting to obtrusively flashy gimmicks.

Sekharettan (Murali) is an ageing powerful kingmaker of Kochi underworld and his right-hand man is now the new don of the city-Madhavan (Suresh Gopi). They control the real estate business and their bitter rival is the deadly Kotooran brothers (Rajmohan Unnithan, Sadiq and a new guy).

While Sekharettan and Madhavan wants to help those who lost their land to the real estate mafia, Kotooran Brothers come in the way, leading to frequent skirmishes. Sekharettan’s daughter Sarada (Lakshmi Gopalaswamy) is married to the chief town planner Sarathchandran (Manoj.K.Jayan) an upright and honest guy who however has a grudge against Madhavan and Sekharettan.

There is also a state finance minister (Shammi Thilakan) who is hand-in-glove with the Kotooran Bros. At a point everything turns topsy-turvy as Sarath joins the Kotooran’s and from being Mr Goody Goody he becomes the evil and bad Sarath Bhai!. Madhavan has a sister Devi (Gopika) tucked away in Munnar who is in love with her classmate (Jayasurya) who happens to be the city police commissioner Arun Nambiar (Siddique) ‘s brother. One day all hell breaks lose as Madhavan avenges the killing of his close buddy which leads to a blood bath followed by a riveting climax.

In a span of exactly two hours Unnikrishnan uses the characters as restless, unbelievable pawns in a do- or- die game. Suresh Gopi is terrific and does the role with élan and style. Manoj.K.Jayan doing a negative role is excellent and has equal footage with the hero. They make the film work. Murali, Siddique and others are adequate. Gopika has just one song and Lakshmi Gopalasamy is there for sentiments.

On the downside all the characters in the film seem to be more comfortable speaking in English with lot of proverbs like- “Blood is thicker than water” ! Some unexplained questions- How can a town planner overnight become a mafia chief? Is Kerala finance minister only interested in settling underworld feuds? There is lot of loose ends and some scenes are taken from Bollywood thrillers.

Technically the film looks chic with good camerawork. Smart City is adequate time pass and worth your ticket money.

Verdict: Racy Entertainer