'Kurukkan' movie review: A mixed bag

After his successful stint as the devious advocate in 'Mukundan Unni Associates', Vineeth Sreenivasan has attempted yet another peculiar character in debutant director Jayalal Divakaran's 'Kurukkan'. This time, he plays an eccentric cop, CI Dinesh, who loves media attention but often goofs up in his work.

He takes over a homicide case involving the death of a social media influencer. The main suspect is the newspaper boy Hari played by Shine Tom Chacko. To strengthen his case, Dinesh takes the help of Krishnan (Sreenivasan) who is often used by the police as a false witness in courtrooms.

The film is entertaining yet baffling at times. While the investigation process is handled with the right blend of humour and gravity, the same can't be said of the courtroom scenes, which makes up most of the second half. The humour works at times, but it disappoints too as if the makers forgot they were handling a serious case.

A judge who tends to snicker or crack up every other time can feel tiresome, probably because you don't expect judges to behave that way. Despite that, Srikant Murali as the judge faithfully does what he is expected of him.

Vineeth's onscreen persona and his ability to pull off satire and humour with an ease just like his father, draws us to Dinesh. He hates people poking fun of him, but is often the butt of jokes, due to his impulsive nature. The police officers under him are often put in difficult situations due to his eccentricities, but that does not bother him.

It is good to see Sreenivasan return to the silver screen in good health. The lovable father and son duo has some enjoyable moments together onscreen.

Shine's character arc is quite interesting. His skill as an actor comes across in his ability to pull of some poignant scenes with ease. His chemistry with Malavika Mohan, who plays his girlfriend, is also good.

Unni Elayaraja has done a good job with the music. 'Kurukkan', written by Manoj Ramsingh, aims to find the fox and there's an element of surprise when the true nature of one of the characters is unravelled.