Parole review: predictable, clichéd and outmoded one

In the movie Parole, the main character Alex is like the best guy you can find in the world. He has sacrificed a lot for his own people and he is a communist. The sympathy one would feel for this particular character is the key factor in Parole being an emotional story. But the presentation here is so outdated that it is hard for you to genuinely feel for the character.

The communist worker Alex is now a prisoner and he has been inside the prison for almost 8 years now. The character of this gentleman has won the hearts of inmates and officials in the jail. So after 8 years, Alex gets parole and the movie shows us the things through which Alex goes through in that Parle period.

The non-masala emotional film gets the treatment of a festival entertainer here. That’s the major mistake Sharrath Sandith has done as a film maker. The fight sequences in the movie don’t really have much relevance than the commercial attire it gets through that. The movie’s story is inspired from a real life story, but it feels that they have failed to emphasize at the right portions of the dilemma of the real character. The predictability of the tale is a big issue and the movie fails to avoid clichés in storytelling. The kind of outdated feel the treatment has is not a treat to watch.

Mammootty manages to shine as an actor discretely in sequences where he is the older version of Alex. Siddique delivers a genuine performance. Miya was good as Katrina. Ineya fails to create an impression as Ani. Suraj goes back to his old style of acting. It was sad to see someone like Prabhakar in a pointless role just there to get beaten up by Mammootty. Alencier, Anil Nedumangadu, Sohan Seenulal, Sudheer Karamana and a few more are there in the star cast.

Sharrath Sandith has made this movie after a 12 year long ad film career and the sad part is that he is not so interested in showcasing his craft in the making of Parole. The usual way of rendering scenes and handling melodrama limits the movie in a big way and the film depends way too much on Mammootty the actor ad star. The unnecessary subplots and sequences inside the jail with all those songs and fight sequences enhance useless time in a 150 minutes long movie. The case that comes in the end, the communist angle in the film etc. has been executed without much conviction. The technical aspects like cinematography and edits aren’t that great. The visual effects and stunts were poor. Music was fine.

For an audience who still root for moral of the story and the goodness of the hero, a film like Parole would sound like a passable one. But if you demand directorial quality and subtle scripting, this movie isn’t your cup of tea.