The lack of narrative tension in 'Darvinte Parinamam' proves to be the major reason behind its undoing. Despite the presence of an admirably capable cast, 'Darvinte Parinamam' gets bogged down by a tremendously blown up script that winds round and round before it finally arrives at the finishing mark. 

Anil Anto (Prithviraj) shifts to Cochin from Kottarakkara along with his pregnant wife (Chandini Sreedharan), unable to suffer the taunts of his mother. At Cochin, the couple starts weaving their dreams on a fresh yarn, and life looks promising until an untoward incident sends it crashing down in a spiral. 

Darwin (Vinod Jose) is a don based in Cochin who has had it up to his neck with his worthless younger brothers. Not one renowned for his refined ways, when he decides to renovate the local church, Darwin has everyone gasping in amazement. 'Darvinte Parinamam' makes a move finally, after many an initial hiccup, when Anil and Darwin finally get to meet each other, as the half time card comes up.

This could perhaps qualify as a tale of retribution, but the lack of excitement draws out the sap from it, leaving it all pale and pallid. There are instances galore in it that are supposedly hilarious, but which fade away without even as much as a whimper. 

The last one hour of the film is a test on your patience, as Darwin and Anil set out on a weird expedition of starts, that has the latter seeking sweet revenge. Far from fun, these are sequences that are far too sluggish to perk up the spirits of the viewer. It seems like 'Darvinte Parinamam' has intentions of selling itself as a comic thriller, but the comedy is missing and so are the mandatory thrills.

Despite flaunting his dashing looks, Prithviraj has little to do in 'Darvinte Parinamam' that would make you drop your jaws in admiration (as he so often does). Barring the odd hospital scene, there is little in 'Darvinte Parinamam' that would be remembered for Prithviraj, the actor. Vinod Jose does his bit admirably well, and the film also has some commendable supporting performances from actors as Soubin Shahir and Chandini Sreedharan. 

The film does have an impressive musical score by Sankar Sharma and has been imposingly caught on camera by Abinandhan Ramanujam. It remains though that one hundred and fifty minutes, 'Darvinte Parinamam' is agonizingly lengthy by any yardstick.

The ultimate questions as to who is the villain of the piece and who plays the hero, in due course lose their significance, since it doesn't appear the least significant as to who the protagonist is or who the antagonist is. What does matter is that 'Darvinte Parinamam' is an excruciatingly long flick that never lets its promising premise to evolve into an appealing drama. 

'Darvinte Parinamam' does put forward the buoyant suggestion every now and then that something better is lying in wait just round the corner. But it carries on babbling continually, almost as if not knowing when to stop, and at the end of it all, is left with nothing but a few sparsely delightful moments here or there. 

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The steady descent to hell and back that Sameer Thahir takes us on in his film 'Kali' offers an affirmation of his standing as a keen story teller. Creepy and downright disturbing, 'Kali' qualifies as an exhilarating thriller that gradually builds up on its pinprick tension and steadily heads towards a shattering climax. 

Sidharth (Dulquer Salman) has lived with the man-with-the-excessive-temper tag all his life, brushing people the wrong way, left, right and centre. His wife Anjali (Sai Pallavi) often finds herself at a loss to deal with his reckless fury, and at last decides to move out of his life. Sidharth offers to drive her to her home in Masinagudi, and enroute has a spat with a lorry driver (Vinod Jose) with devastating consequences. 

In a sense, 'Kali' is reminiscent of the Spielberg jewel 'Duel' (1971), and one cannot help thinking of the Dennis Weaver film, when Sidharth drives into the parking lot of the wayside eatery, and finds the ominous lorry parked right there. Thereon, 'Kali' takes a different route that keeps you hanging on to the edge of your seat.

Road rage is probably the least discussed of all anger issues, and in a hilarious scene Sidharth offers a lesson or two to Anjali in car driving, gruffly insisting that she remember that it's the driver that needs to swerve the car forward and not the other way round. Thahir makes a pertinent statement of sorts through this scene pointing out at how ironic these words are, coming from the mouth of a man whose life rages ahead as a stirrup less horse, once trounced by anger. 

There are scenes aplenty in 'Kali' that even those of us with relatively lesser anger management issues can easily relate to. The forever-missing-car-key syndrome is one such concern that almost every household deals with pretty much every morning, and while it remains that most of us do not fret it out as Sidharth does, it does at times drive us into spasms of uncontrollable exasperation. 

And then there are those moments of impulsiveness, when you decide to do something and then quickly realize that it was one real, awful impetuous act. Running around like the dog that inadvertently gets its head stuck in the pot, a succession of unmanageable events follow suit, and there is nothing much to do except let them unfurl by themselves. 

The sense of dread that Thahir and writer Rajesh Gopinathan cook up in the latter half is unnerving, and the frights line up rapidly as well. The winding, isolated roads to Masinagudi seem to teem over with terror, as the dark night bluntly declines to shed some light over them. It's a mean death race in which man and machine compete with themselves and each other to frenetically make it to the finishing line. 

Dulquer is at his histrionic best as yet in 'Kali' and looks impressively mature enough to handle the complex emotions that Sidharth goes through, grappling with extreme wrath one moment and severe remorse the next. Sai Pallavi underlines that she is an actor to reckon with and that the Malar impact was no accident; she is tremendously efficient in playing Anjali, and looks delightfully gorgeous. The kind of screen chemistry that the two share is nothing short of electric, and they push themselves to extremes in 'Kali', complimenting each other all the time, and the impeccable results are there for all to see! Vinayakan and Vinod Jose excel in supporting roles, almost as if unwilling to settle for anything less. 

Gireesh Gangadharan's frames are unhurried and deliberately intimidating, approaching each moment with caution, and simmering with a burning intensity all through. Gopi Sunder chips in with a dazzling musical score that never for once impedes the narrative, and instead gracefully adds to the seething tone of the film.

'Kali' offers a brilliant take on the man-eater emotion called rage, and viscerally examines the dreadful repercussions that it could possibly have. A fine feature that is at once weighty and wicked, it upends your expectations, and how!

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King Liar' is loud. It is exaggerated. It is colourful and over the top. And of course its an out and out Dileep movie. The "only Dileep can do such movies" thought would surely cross minds after watching this movie. There are all those slap stick comedies, cheesy rejoinders, some theatrical jokes and evident improvisations in the film and 'King Lair' is for those who would enjoy some mindless narration. Though it has the Siddique - Lal tag, this conman story stays on scriptwriter Bibin Chandran's shoulders as dialogues are the mainstay of 'King Lair'.

Dileep plays this conman, who eek out a living through forging documents and lying his way through situations. He also helps others out of trouble through his gimmicks. The character he essays is named Sathyanarayanan which in itself is an irony. He meets a girl named Anjali and the lengths to which he goes to conceive her is the basic gist of the story.

In his bluffing, he gets mired in some problems for which he has even more problematic solutions. He encounter with the business tycoon Anand Varma (Lal) and his entry into a world of glitz and glamour is beautifully brought out. All of this in the name of winning back his love. This journey to Dubai and the subsequent thickening of plot is narrated.

Dileep has had a blast in the movie as his boisterous and exaggerated banter gives the movie its flavour. Joining him as his sidekick is Balu Verghese as Antappan. He holds his own which is rebuffs and jokes. Asha Sharath as Devika Varma is quite unique with her eccentricities which some may find hard to digest. Lal with his baritone and screen presence is classy as Anand Varma. As for Madonna Sebastian, she is fine as Anjali and looks pretty in the frames.

The fashion scene and the happening city in Dubai are beautiful on screen with some well captured shots. Music is again loud and complements the tone of the movie. There are a lot of pits in the narration - the shoddily done climax, illogical sequencing, jokes that goes flat and a senseless bantering. But some profound moments too add to the movie as with the relationship values and what is at stake. Moreover the pace of the narration kind of blocks out other things.

'King Liar' is not the kind of movie which leaves an impression. It is a one time watch. It is a typical and cliched comic entertainer. It sure is watchable and if you are a hardcore Dileep fan, this is one boisterous and playful outing that can be enjoyed with family and friends.

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