Laandhar Movie Review : More dim than daring

Laandhar Movie Synopsis: In Kovai, ACP Aravind, an upright cop, is dealt a perplexing case: apparently, a raincoated person with a shovel is limping around town like a zombie. Whoever encounters this person gets a serious beat down, sometimes even worse. Who is this guy and what’s up with his behavior?

Laandhar Movie Review: Unfolding in a single night, Laandhar follows a typical format with the same old characters. Aravind (Vidaarth), the usual Tamil movie fearless cop, successfully dismantles a fraudulent liquor racket and heads home early to spend time with his wife Jaanu (Swetha Dorothy), who has an intense fear of solitude. Their evening is disrupted when news of a brutal attack by a raincoated figure reaches them. The cops at the station, who try to catch this person, also get beaten up. At the same time, there’s another couple Nakul (Vibin) and Manju (Sahana) who are having some issues. Manju sees a medical report, and this triggers something deep and traumatic in her. What’s up with this ghostly figure? Does it have anything to do with this couple?

Laandhar is the kind of movie that will make you go, “why?”. First, everyone on the streets is sketchy and acts like a criminal. There’s no spectrum: mostly dimwits who like to cause trouble, which makes it easy for this raincoated man to whack them. Also, it’s not like this suspect is some kind of criminal mastermind - he’s just limping around in the open, with no agenda. The cops spot him right away and even though they got reports that he’s dangerous up close, they still chose to wrestle him. Predictably, they’re all beaten up. Like, alright, forget about a gun, but how about throwing a rock or something?

These illogical incidents just keep happening. We’ve got some funny characters too. Let alone our hero, who we’ve seen repeatedly before. His wife is portrayed in a way that’s mind-boggling. There’s this one time when she passes out because the power goes out and when she finally wakes up, she tries to find her phone to call her husband but gives up quickly and ends up going to her neighbor for help. Like, look harder? Likewise, Manju too has a certain kind of depiction. She’s given a backstory where we’re shown that she has ‘borderline personality disorder’, but frankly, she’s just borderline laughable. These are not serious people, and you won’t construe them as such either. You’re going to wince at the lack of believability.

One can tell what the makers were gunning for in Laandhar: no pretense, just fun. There’s no message or some social issue. The latter portions are a car chase with the usual tropes of suspense and thrill. Vidaarth looks good and confident. Sahana as Manju has a good amount of screen time and she’s done her bit. The rest all have minor roles and are okay.

In the end, Laandhar is a predictable thriller that fails to break new ground but offers some entertainment with its straightforward approach.

Written by: Abhinav Subramanian