'Kolla' review: Rajisha Vijayan, Priya Varrier's bank robbery film is pacy, but could have been sharper

As the name suggests, Suraj Varma's Rajisha Vijayan-Priya Varrier starrer 'Kolla' is a money heist film. Instead of opting for the Hollywood-style looting at gunpoint, 'Kolla' draws inspiration from one of Kerala's most sensational bank heists—the Chelambra bank robbery. However, Bobby and Sanjay smartly ditch the cliché macho men antagonists for two young women and give their story a fresh feel.

The film opens with Annie (Rajisha Vijayan) and Shilpa (Priya Varrier) setting up a beauty parlour under a cooperative bank. Their beauty parlour becomes the centre of attraction soon as it is the first one in the neighbourhood. The business at the beauty parlour picks up fast with incredible support from the townsfolk. Annie and Shilpa, however, have their eyes set on the easy money lying one floor above them. With the help of Annie's grandfather (Alancier), the duo cuts open the roof of their parlour, which leads to the locker room of the cooperative bank.

The film picks up pace from there as the bunch desperately tries to evade the police. Both Annie and Shilpa continue to lead their normal lives to make sure that they are never under suspicion. It's surprising that the townsfolk, who are usually wary of outsiders, trusted the girls blindly when it looked like an inside job.

The performances by the actors, including Alexander Prashant and Vinay Forrt, are good. Rajisha, who has won the state award for 'Anuraga Karikkin Vellam,' a romantic drama, seems to be shifting her focus to crime thrillers. She was last seen in 'Pakalum Paathiravum,' another crime drama. It was nice yet heartbreaking to see Kollam Sudhi as a mason in the movie.

The screenplay by Jasim Jalal and Nelson Joseph failed to do justice to Bobby-Sanjay's story. The twists were quite intriguing, but some of the scenes needed to be sharper to seem more convincing. Nevertheless, it was fascinating how some of the scenes were envisaged. There was even a Jeethu Joseph 'Drishyam'-style moment in the film.

The music by Shaan Rahman was good; however, the background score seemed unnecessarily loud at times.