‘L2: Empuraan’ movie review: Mohanlal, rich production design fail to save this sequel

L2: Empuraan movie review: Empuraan's heavy-handed symbolism and weak writing fail to elevate it beyond a lackluster sequel to Lucifer.

Symbolism in art is inherently indirect, but in Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Empuraan it is thrown at your face, one ‘L’ at a time, to remind us of the omnipotent anti-hero Lucifer. Part of a broken cross atop a rundown church falls down, landing in slow motion as an ‘L’. Later, a burning tree branch falls perfectly as an ‘L’. If the ‘L’eft bottom corner of the screen were ‘L’it up, one could have savoured an ‘L’ for the whole ‘L’ength of the film.

Part of Empuraan’s many problems lies in this over-reliance on the internationally notorious, shadowy figure of Khureshi Ab’raam aka Lucifer while relegating his local avatar Stephen Nedumpally (Mohanlal), the central figure of the first part, to a mere guest appearance. Now, Lucifer (2019) was a flawed film which in its post-release afterlife was turned into the holy grail of Malayalam commercial filmmaking, although it pales in comparison with the best of commercial entertainers of the 1980s and 90s. Yet, it had something going for it. Empuraan has hardly anything going for it, except for the richness of its production design.

The political intrigues in Kerala, which were at the centre of Lucifer, takes a backseat as the story goes “international”, involving the typical mix of drug cartels and intelligence agencies we have seen in umpteen films. One can sense the eagerness in showcasing all the foreign locales spread over continents that the crew went to, for mostly short, pointless sequences that do not add much to the narrative. Playing in the background is the entry of a third political force in Kerala, which is also linked to Lucifer’s sidekick Zayed Mazood (Prithviraj)‘s origin story, with all of it building up to a predictable climax.

Murali Gopy’s writing often follows the pattern set by 90s commercial potboilers written by the likes of Renji Panicker in lazily sprinkling thinly-veiled references to real-life political figures and happenings in the narrative. It is a low-effort job which gets tiresome after a point. Added to this is Gopy’s usual dose of biblical references and pop philosophy, in an attempt to make the screenplay appear more intelligent than it actually is.

In Empuraan, all these weaknesses get exposed as the writer fails to create any memorable exchange or scenario even for Mohanlal whom the film literally worships. The man does not face a worthy adversary or a conflict which challenges him. Manju Warrier is thankfully not relegated to the background as women are in such star vehicles. Except for an action sequence set in a forest, most of the others set-pieces, especially the climactic one, are passable.

As for the political messaging, even while seemingly taking a strong stand against communal forces, the screenplay also advances the usual propaganda of these very same forces by painting Kerala politics as a viper’s pit where the primary opposing forces are hand-in-glove with each other and whose secularism is just part of an act. Like in Tiyaan, also written by Gopy, the overt messaging and the underlying narrative are at odds with each other. The film, just as Lucifer did, wishes for a flawed, all-powerful, invincible saviour. 

Some of the pre-release fan theories posted online had more interesting plot lines and character development than in this mediocre screenplay, which has an emotionally vacant core. If only even a fraction of the effort spent in the unprecedented marketing campaign of the film was taken in screenwriting, Empuraan might have been a better film.