Khalifa: The Ruler

Director Vysakh has made some of Malayalam cinema’s biggest blockbusters, but he still doesn’t have a clue about how to handle romance. In a fairly straightforward first half hour of the film, you’d expect to understand the Ali family’s hierarchy and criminal legacy; Vysakh forces a “cute” love story between Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Aamir Ali and a girl named Fiza. There’s some background here about Aamir’s ailing grandpa and how he wants to see him get married as his dying wish, but you can smell the fluff from miles away.

Prithviraj Sukumaran needs a win, and Khalifa: The Ruler arrives at just the right — or perhaps the most crucial — moment. After Vilayath Buddha and I, Nobody failed to make a mark at the box office, all eyes are now on Vysakh’s action thriller to turn things around. But does Khalifa have what it takes to end Prithviraj’s box-office dry spell? Let’s find out! Khalifa opens with a grand wedding, after which the bride’s brother, Samad, is detained by the police. From there, the narrative unfolds around Aamir Ali (Prithviraj Sukumaran), who has taken refuge in London. With a warrant issued against him for murder and a notorious reputation as a gold smuggler, the film explores the circumstances that led Aamir to this point.

When a star plays a notorious smuggler, there has to be a compelling reason for him to become one. Vysakh’s Khalifa provides Aamir Ali (Prithviraj Sukumaran) a reason with some emotional pull. A one-liner for the film could be this: ‘a heart-rending story of a man who becomes a master gold smuggler to repay his honest father’s debts caused by corrupt politicians’. However, the narrative lacks the intended emotional pull or the expected thrills. The similarity to umpteen films released in the 1980s and 90s adds to the movie’s dullness.