Alone Movie Review: A daring experiment that becomes a tiring experience
Rating:(1.5 / 5)
The pandemic and the subsequent lockdown continue to be a source of never-ending stories that range from romance to supernatural thrillers. It has also proven to be a fertile setting for novel experiments. Alone is one such attempt—a single-actor film set largely in one location. It's in stark contrast to the Mohanlal-Shaji Kailas duo's usual larger-than-life mass entertainers that celebrate the superstar, his mundu swag, and the iconic meesha piri. In Alone, not once does Mohanlal wear a mundu nor does he twirl his moustache, but that doesn't mean this film is short of gimmicks. In fact, it has a lot...
Cast: Mohanlal, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manju Warrier
Director: Shaji Kailas
Rating: 1.5/5
The narrative begins with Mohanlal's character Kalidasan reaching an apartment complex in Kochi during the lockdown. After encountering some strange incidents in his flat, he starts unraveling a lot of mysteries. But all of this is before the final twist, which has become a routine in most Mohanlal films of late. However, his uninspired performance worsens things. There is a shade of eccentricity to his character, and it should have been a cakewalk for someone who aced similar roles in films like Ayal Kadha Ezhuthukayanu (1998) and Thala
Alone also has voice-acting by popular actors like Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manju Warrier, Annie, Rachana Narayanankutty, and Nandu among others. Among them, Prithviraj's Hari Bhai is the best-written character and it is enhanced by the actor's delightful rendering of the Thironthoram slang, which sounds way better than what he did recently in Kaapa. In an ordinary film without any such experiments, the Kalidasan-Hari Bhai portions would have been thoroughly enjoyable.
Alone is somewhat similar to Jayasurya's 2021 film Sunny in terms of how they both are single-actor films set during the pandemic. However, what distinguishes Sunny from Alone
In a couple of scenes in Alone, Mohanlal is seen wearing a T-shirt that screams the word 'vintage'. But sadly, this film doesn't even have a glimpse of the good old vintage Mohanlal or Shaji Kailas. To put it bluntly, it's an experiment gone terribly wrong.