‘Adrishyam’ movie review: An underwhelming thriller riddled with technical issues

Despite its powerful star cast and potential to weave a gripping narrative, the loud treatment, haphazard editing, and horrific lip sync make ‘Adrishyam’ an underwhelming watch

Amid all the fast-paced investigation, never-ending character introductions, and the general confusion that marks Adrishyam, there is one thing that sticks out, bothering the viewer persistently — the film’s horrific dubbing. In there lies the story of a bilingual film gone haywire, presenting the audience with the feeling of watching one of those badly-dubbed films that keep appearing in satellite channels.

Adrishyam, directed by Zac Harris, revolves around the case of a missing girl (Anandhi), and there are too many people looking for her in parallel investigations. Nandakumar (Narain) and his team are on the lookout for her, as directed by a top police officer Purushothaman (Prathap Pothen) who cannot get directly involved with the case. Joining him are Rajkumar (Sharafudheen), a police officer who is under suspension in a case related to idol theft, and another officer (Athmeeya Rajan). Also carrying out a parallel investigation is Sethu (Joju George), under the direction of a politician.

All through Adrishyam (released as Yuki in Tamil), one can sense an interesting story lying somewhere beneath all the clueless handling that is seen on the surface. Unfortunately, till the end, all that could have made it a gripping thriller remains invisible. One wonders if this is what the title Adrishyam (‘Invisible’) signifies.

Anyone managing to divert their attention from the poor lip-sync would be sure to notice the rather plain dialogues and mechanical voice-overs that at some points sound like the product of translation software. If this is the case with dubbing, the editing is poor as well. The film is haphazardly edited, especially in the initial parts when the characters are introduced and the narrative switches between the parallel investigations.

The part about idol theft appears to be a needless distraction, with it not getting mentioned much later on in the film. Surrogacy takes over as the subject to tackle, but the film does it so in a twisted manner and the whole debate appears muddled. Serious attempts are made to mislead the viewers about the relationship between two of the key characters, and one such attempt is through a song sequence. That is not intelligent writing.

What ails the movie the most is the rather loud, melodramatic treatment which makes it hard for it to be taken seriously. The script did have enough to create a gripping narrative, with enough twists and turns, but thanks to the treatment, none of the moments that were supposed to be thrilling make us feel so. With such a powerful star cast and a promising story at their disposal, the rather unremarkable way that it has been made is particularly shocking. Adrishyam hardly gets anything right.

Adrishyam is currently running in theatres