November Rain: Jaded, predictable fare

A youngster in prison is beaten up by the police. Then he is surrounded by dancing men with green painted faces. A mother figure cries tears of blood. And then, there's a butterfly caught in a spider's web.

These are some of the surreal images that mark the beginning of November Rain, which has been marketed as an action film with 'family sentiments'.

The film, which has been directed by Vinu Joseph, then goes into flashback. We have Satyanarayan (Arun), a youngster with supposedly below-average intelligence interested only in eating and boxing. Ridiculed by his father, a police officer heading an anti-goonda squad, he still manages to get admission in college. Satyanarayan gets into bad company and ends up in a mafia team in Kochi. From there onwards, the events are predictable.

The plot is jaded, following a novice-becomes-kingpin thread. Even the subplots are inspired from old classics like Kireedom, but lack the poignancy.

The characterisation of Satyanarayan (again we cannot help but think of the original Satya by Ram Gopal Varma) is paper thin. No explanation is given for his transformation from a dimwit to a courageous action hero -- maybe it was chopped off on the editing table to give pace to the narrative!

Arun tries to infuse sincerity and intensity into his performance, but it all looks made up as the character lacks any real substance. Lalu Alex as the inspector is his usual self, offering nothing extraordinary to the character.

In the end, November Rain just leaves us with a question; why does every young actor and director feel that an underworld story can be their ticket to fame?

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