Heaven Movie Review: Suraj Venjaramoodu anchors a decent procedural that could have been better

There is an NCC camp happening inside a forest in Kerala. The bus is filled with young people, who are raring to prove a point to the world. A guy and a girl steal furtive glances, and his insecurity wants to make him clarify an important point with his friend sitting next to him. “Is she looking at me or you,” he asks his friend. The friend looks at the girl and breaks the bad news to the guy. “She is looking at me only…” and then we see the friend and the girl go on a long walk in the camp, much to the chagrin of the guy who feels embarrassed and hurt. In the process of this walk, and getting cozy with each other… BAM! There’s a dead body. Now, it is alright to think if the person killed is one of these three. It is also alright to think that one of these three would have a serious bearing on the investigation that would follow. It is also alright to think that these opening scenes would be a Chekov’s Gun. But once the dead body is found by the police, and the investigations happen, we understand that the gun just draws blanks. This is a consistent theme in Suraj Venjaramoodu-fronted cop drama, Heaven. Interesting plot points are established only to fizzle out in the quest for that final act. 

Cast: Suraj Venjaramoodu, Alencier Ley Lopez, Vinaya Prasad, Deepak Parambol

Director: Unni Govindaraj

In fact, we are invested in almost everything that happens on screen, but the makers seem to be in a hurry to move on. There are places that needed a bit more finesse, and there are places that needed a bit of mellowing down. Not able to pick the fine line in between proves to be a problem for director Unni Govindaraj.

Heaven begins with that aforementioned murder, and that is when we are first introduced to Suraj’s Peter Kurishingal, who is arrested for the murder. We soon see one other set of murders where Peter Kurishingal is the investigating officer. This dichotomy would have worked better if there were intercutting narratives to see how the past and present unfold. However, once the past narrative begins, we actually forget how the film started. This is also because the flashback portions are where the investigations happen, and it is quite engaging. The way Peter battles his inner demons, swallows his overwhelming sadness, and gets to the bottom of the case is a decent procedural. Peter is aided by his fellow cops like Alencier Ley Lopez as he finds out who facilitated the destruction of the fabric of his close-knit family. 

The performances are largely convincing, and the characters played by Jaffer Idukki, Deepak Parambol, Sudheesh, and Vinaya Prasad aid in keeping the investigative drama as taut as possible. Suraj brings quiet dignity to the role of Peter which is a far cry from his other cop roles. The tilt in his walk, and the stiffness that he brings to the table elevate the role from being a one-note character on a revenge spree. The final act springs out of nowhere, but the writing ensures that after an initial few minutes of hesitancy, we buy into that too. This is both the positive and negative of Heaven. We are convinced of watching a decent investigative film, with considerable help from Gopi Sundar’s background score, but time and again, there is a need to reaffirm this faith in the film due to some writing choices. 

This isn’t to say Heaven is a bad film, although that title could have definitely remained just a working title. It isn’t to say Heaven is a great film either considering the various instances where even the red herrings don’t feel red enough even at the time of implantation. Heaven is a decent film that could have been either better or worse, and it is to the credit of the team that it stays safely on the better side of things, and not in creative limbo.