There's a certain kind of impression that Shane Nigam's new film creates right from the very beginning. By impression, I don't mean the kind that outright tells you you're watching something very new and extraordinary. Now, whether these are meant to be interpreted as "genuine" shortcomings or not, only the filmmakers know — this film comes from newcomers — but I like to see them as deliberate shortcomings, to hide the true nature of the movie from us — a smokescreen, so to speak. I'll tell you why.
To begin with, it's nice to see, for a change, a police character who isn't suffering from some dark personal trauma: a man who comes from a well-do, pleasant, loving family; a man who doesn't drink or smoke or socialise; a man who isn't some philandering jerk; a man who does everything by the book; a man who isn't concealing any secret.
As much as I love the police thrillers of the variety that comes from the Shahi Kabir camp, such as "Nayattu", "Officer on Duty", and "Ronth" — all, to me, great movies — I would also like to enjoy, occasionally, the police movie where the 'hero' isn't burdened by heavy emotions triggered by a past incident.
But Shane Nigam's character, Vijay Radhakrishnan, the young cop who newly takes charge of a station in a small town, will soon be overwhelmed by multiple events that shatter a region long-regarded as tranquil territory before his arrival. All of a sudden, the inexperienced cop is dealing with multiple murders and a robbery that occurred simultaneously. When these events occur, it's actually a relief because the film takes quite some time in the early portions to establish an air of geniality and ordinariness, and it's nice to see some 'dark' activity break that illusion.
Even when the investigations begin, and Vijay and his colleagues go in different directions to deduce the possible connection(s) between the murders and the robbery, the procedural aspects are staged matter-of-factly; nothing screams awesomeness. But then, something incredible happens in the climax, and to be frank, I was caught off guard, and I realised why the film had to take a certain trajectory up until that point.
I realised why everything had to look unremarkable before these climactic developments. There's no attempt to break any ground in terms of the craft. The cinematography, for most of the film, doesn't call attention to itself, which was smart because it would distract us from the characters. But that doesn't imply the camera work isn't competent, because the team proves their skill in the earth-shattering finale, which gave me nearly the same feeling that a recent Mohanlal hit did in one crucial moment. I refrain from naming that film because it might give away certain surprises. I can mention, however, another film that gave me a similar high in a particular situation — "RDX", also starring Shane.
Why this ending works so well is that the film has been constantly trying to spell out, to a slightly annoying extent, that so-and-so characters are a certain way. You'd even ask why the film is telling you this information when you can clearly see it for yourself. And then that ending comes, and you go, "Oh, so that's why!"
Aside from the filmmaking team, who have proved themselves quite capable with their maiden effort, the entire cast, especially Shane, deserves the credit for ably contributing to this delightfully surprising investigative enterprise. "Dridam" is a showcase for one of Shane's finest performances. The actor, who is often associated with a certain kind of youngster for a long time, doesn't look awkward in khaki. He looks serious. He looks no-nonsense. He looks mature. This is not a first for Shane; he played a cop in another thriller three years ago, "Vela", which, despite not being as innovative as "Dridam", was a decent film in terms of a purely character-driven drama. (By the way, why isn't it out on any OTT platform yet?)
When you think of the "Dridam" climax and try to rewind the preceding events to figure out if it all makes complete logical sense, you might find one or two things not quite gelling. I haven't yet attempted that exercise, but then, let’s remember that even some of the greatest crime thrillers in the world have certain loopholes.
"Dridam" makes it very clear from the beginning that it's not trying to be a Shahi Kabir film, but something that lies somewhere between a Shahi Kabir film and a Jeethu Joseph film. That reminds me, the first-time director of this film, Martin Joseph, has worked as a longtime assistant of the latter, on several of the veteran filmmaker's most successful films, including "Drishyam 2".
Film: Dridam
Director: Martin Joseph
Cast: Shane Nigam, Shobhi Thilakan, Dinesh Prabhakar, Mathew Varghese, Kottayam Ramesh, Krishna Prabha, Nandhan Unni
Rating: 3.5/5
