MARAKKAR: ARABIKADALINTE SIMHAM Review

Marakkar Arabikadalinte Simham is a 2021 Historic drama by Priyadarshan, starring Mohanlal, Arjun, Suneil Shetty, Prabhu, Pranav Mohanlal and many others.

Marakkar talks about the historical person Kunjali Marakkar IV. Kunjali was the 1st naval commander of India, who fought with the Portuguese armies to prevent them from entering the country. This story shows Kunjali Marakkar’s journey from being an adult to become a defender of the poor and a protector of the sea. The movie mostly follows actual events, but there are also elements of fiction. 

Mohanlal appears as the title character Kunjali Marakkar IV. It is unquestionably true that he is one of the best actors in the country, but he may not have been the perfect Marakkar. While he was very flexible in the action scenes, the dialogue delivery and performances in emotional scenes weren’t so spectacular as always. A complete actor not perfectly utilized is the word. A big highlight of the film is the huge star cast, including prominent actors such as Arjun, Suneil Shetty, and Prabhu. Unfortunately, none of them had an impressive scene to perform. In fact, only Arjun’s character had some stunning moments to show off. This film does not use Suneil Shetty in any way. Any other actor from Malayalam cinema could have handled his 15-20 minutes of screen time. They portrayed Prabhu as a comedian in the film. Even though he played the character well, any other actor could have played the role just as well. It seems like the makers only focused on improving the hype for this movie by assembling all the big stars. Manju Warrier is another disappointing casting decision. An actress with such star power is used merely as a side character. Keerthy Suresh performed impressively in the film. With her limited screen space, Kalyani Priyadarshan performed beautifully. Pranav Mohanlal was the star of Marakkar, providing an outstanding performance as young Kunjali Marakkar. He is very good at performing emotional scenes as well as action scenes. He is sure to have a bright future in the industry. Jay J. Jakkrit as Chinnali was another show stealer in Marakkar after Pranav.

The movie has many good aspects, one of which is the casting and performance of Pranav Mohanlal and Arjun. The first 20-30 minutes were spectacular. The visual effects and sound effects are a benchmark for Malayalam cinema. The VFX portions were so natural, considering the budget. This movie would have been an All-time blockbuster if the screenplay and direction were better. The movie screenplay was so lame. Marakkar is a three hours long movie. Apart from three fast action scenes, there aren’t many action scenes, as shown in the teaser and trailer. Marakkar is another example of failure due to wrong promotion techniques. There is a lot of action shown in the trailer to give the impression that this is a war movie. However, it is just an over-dramatic, class movie. An audience with high expectations ends up watching a non-professional film. There is a lot of action shown in the trailer to give the impression that this is a war movie. However, it is just an over-dramatic, class movie. An audience with high expectations ends up watching a non-professional film. Most of the technical departments other than Art and VFX were also responsible for ruining the film. As a result of the dark colour grade and overuse of close-up shots in the particular action sequence in the sea, it was difficult for the audience to identify the actors. The editor was terrible, with very unprofessional editing. There were two cuts in the 2nd half, which the audience could feel clearly. There was no transition in those scenes. They should have also removed a lot of unwanted scenes in the movie. The songs were impressive, but the BGM was cliche and disappointing.

A major disappointment is considering this movie is from one of the legends of Indian cinema, Priyadarshan. His works with Mohanlal are always blockbusters, and most of them have been high grossing blockbusters. Priyadarshan generally makes fun movies, but he still made Oppam flawlessly. His writing was poor in Marakkar, especially the screenplay and dialogue. He should have spent a considerable amount of time on the movie screenplay and dialogue. It was painful to see one of the best actors in the country struggling to impress with his performance in Marakkar. The poor direction or lack of seriousness of Priyadarshan may be responsible for this.

Puli, Odiyan, and Mamangam among others have suffered the same fate as Marakkar. Those movies will remain a source of pain for every moviegoer. It is strange to see a highly anticipated and National Award won film turning into a disaster because of bad quality. Anyways, the movie is one time watchable for the perfect visual effects and Pranav Mohanlal’s performance.