Kurup (2021), a Malayalam thriller starring Dulquer Salmaan, is a period film that deserves credit for a fine recreation of the 1980s Bombay, Madras & Persia and for good acting by the lead actors. Sadly, it has not been supported by a worthy screenplay, which was haphazard. I got a feeling I watched three films in the 155 minutes it ran. Kurup is available on Netflix, and it gets my Raw rating.
Dulquer has effortlessly carried the role of Kurup, which had multiple identities – first as a trainee Airman, then as the town’s rich man, and lastly as an international arms dealer. He was supported well by Sobhita Dhulipala as Sharadamma, Kurup’s love and wife.
The film starts when a Krishnadas, Deputy Superintendent of Kerala Police is retiring and his assistant, a young man finds an old case diary titled Kurup and reads it – the story is supposed to unfold from what’s written in it – it doesn’t, instead, it abruptly gets being narrated from the hero’s (Kurup’s) point-of-view. After the next 150 minutes, it suddenly comes back to Krishnadas’ perspective, near the end. I am at a loss why the film should’ve got presented this way.
For no apparent reason, the film spends a huge amount of time in the Airforce training period of Kurup. The character of Sharadamma is shown to be a professional nurse, I was expecting this fact to get used by Kurup in his devious plot, but it was not to be, a wasted opportunity in my view. To list just two of the many logic gaps in the film: Is it so simple to fake a defence personnel’s death and fool the local police? How does a young storekeeper in Bombay’s Airforce, gets unfettered access to transport wartime arms?.
To conclude, you can watch this film if you don’t think much about a story.
Dulquer Salmaan as Kurup and Sobhita Dhulipala as Sharadamma
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