Gold movie review: Neglects Nayanthara, wastes Prithviraj's zeal and redefines lack of cohesion

Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Mallika Sukumaran, Shammi Thilakan, Baburaj, Lalu Alex, Nayanthara, Shanthi Krishna, Chemban Vinod Jose, Deepti Sati, Ajmal Amir, Saiju Kurup, Roshan Mathew, Jagadish, Vinay Forrt, Soubin Shahir, Sharafudheen, Jaffer Idukki, Aleena Alphonse Puthren, Sharat Saxena, Etc, Etc

Director: Alphonse Puthren

Language: Malayalam

It has been seven years since the release of Alphonse Puthren’s Premam, a runaway box-office success that has gone on to attain a cult status, was one of the earliest films from the New Malayalam New Wave to become a pan-India hit, cemented Nivin Pauly’s standing as a star, catapulted Sai Pallavi on her path to the superstardom she now has across language industries, and gave both Anupama Parameswaran and Vinay Forrt their most memorable roles till date. Such an  achievement would weigh heavy on the shoulders of any normal person – it’s burden is evident in the conception of the director’s new release.

Gold is a star-studded exercise in reinventing the musical as we know it in India. Since the musical is the norm and not merely a genre in this country, any effort at re-envisioning it here makes sense only if it is markedly visionary. Gold is not.

It is possible to imagine that Gold sounded attractive at the conceptual stage, which would explain why the leading man is so sold on it. Prithviraj Sukumaran throws himself into his role with gusto, and has produced the film. His zeal is not matched by the writing and direction.

Team Alphonse starts out with some good ideas for Gold. The film works in bits and pieces. Some of the music-led sequences are well-conceived. In its entirety though, the narrative so completely lacks cohesion and reasoning, and is so transparent in its attempts at being cool that it is little more than a bid to be different for the heck of it.

Prithviraj in Gold is an entrepreneur called Joshi who one day finds the entrance to his front yard blocked by an abandoned SUV. Unknown to him, it was left thereby a bunch of criminals who are now anxious to retrieve its precious cargo. Meanwhile, Joshi has alerted the police. As he waits for them to take the vehicle into their custody, he discovers what it contains.

This is a well-off man who runs a smartphone shop in a posh mall and lives with his mother (Mallika Sukumaran) in a spacious riverside home built by his father. Money is not in short supply for him, but greed is a monster that, ironically, consumes the wealthy perhaps more than any other strata of society. So the question is if he will retain his integrity in the face of the temptation laid out before him on a platter, and what the police will find out.

On the sidelines of this primary strand is Joshi’s proposed marriage to Radha (Deepti Sati). Off the radar of his awareness are the shenanigans of a gold trader named Unnikrishnan (Shammi Thilakan), his daughter’s father-in-law-to-be, Shaji (Lalu Alex), and petty criminals led by a fellow they all address as Boss Freddy (Chemban Vinod Jose).

Instead of going full throttle into the moral dilemma facing Joshi and an examination of what an open window can do to even a saint, Gold stays determinedly on the surface of this storyas if fearing that depth would diminish its enjoyability. This might still have been okay if its frothiness was entertaining. In the pre-interval half, it is, while everyone and everything are being introduced, when musical set-pieces erupt on screen without a by-your-leave, and stars start popping up for walk-on parts following which they disappear. The unnecessary on-screen graphics are an irritant even in this portion, but remain tolerable as long as there is hope that Gold may go somewhere, if not in terms of storyline then at least in terms of experimentation in format. In the second half though, all this comes across as a cover-up for lack of substance.

Anend C. Chandran and Viswajith Odukkathil shoot the flora and fauna around Joshi’s house in Discovery-Channel-style detail. Since the film fails to add up, these stunning visuals feel pointless after a while. Likewise, the sudden insertion of lines from an old Bollywood song into a Malayalam number. The rhythm is addictive, the switch in language inexplicable in this setting, and ultimately it enhances the “see how hip I am” vibe that Gold gives off.

Though the screen is not overloaded and crowded in Gold as it was in Thallumaala earlier this year, it is in that neighbourhood. Wipes are used once too often. The non-linear timeline is spelt out again and again with the written words “minutes earlier”, “X months later”, etc. When characters first walk in, their names are flashed in bold letters; sometimes, so are their actions, emotions and descriptions of them. For instance, when Shaji’s son says a particular job has to be assigned not to old-style hooligans but to a new-generation goonda, Roshan Mathew enters the scene to the accompaniment of the words “new-gen goonda” on screen next to him.

Initially, the film has a sense of humour, but as the minutes pass, the jokes get flat. One running gag about Shaji – who’s known as Idea Shaji – is unfunny from the beginning but becomes a stronger sleeping pill with each repetition. The dullest comedic thread that’s kept up throughout involves Joshi’s mother. Each time we see her, she’s either offering to make tea and snacks for guests and Joshi, or making them, or serving them. She does nothing else. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. This is no doubt meant to be hilarious; at a stretch, it might even have been a clever comment on how patriarchy influences women’s view of their role in society and the family. The joke’s on Gold though, considering how blatantly it sidelines women.

You cannot mock patriarchy if you are one of its facilitators. Believe it or not, Joshi’s Mum is the only somewhat-fleshed-out woman character in this film that features barely any women. Unnikrishnan’s wife (Shanthi Krishna) and a policewoman have negligible roles. And one of India’s biggest stars, Nayanthara, has been roped in to just sit around. At least Deepti Sati gets to showcase her dance skills as she and Prithviraj throw their hearts, souls and bodies into Thanne Thanne. Nayanthara’s Sumangali is positioned as a primary player in the story, but is so neglected that she amounts to less than the film’s numerous cameos.

The casting of multiple famous actors in tiny roles ends up being gimmicky because most serve no purpose. If the intention was to rival the star presence in Aashiq Abu’s Virus (2019), then the makers of Gold have not understood that film at all. Virus’ star-heavy ensemble conveyed the point that every single person involved in Kerala’s real-life experience with Nipah was crucial in containing the deadly outbreak. Each of their characters was givendefinition and depth. In Gold, all we have is a game of “hey look, the producers managed to get Star X(and Star Y and A, B,C) too” which stops being fun after a while, especially as the writing and direction lose steam. Vinay Forrt is the only actor whose cameo makes any sense as a cameo.

Vinay, Rajesh Murugesan’s music, the scenic beauty surrounding Joshi’s home, Prithviraj’s commitment to this script, his dancing with Deepti, and two pulsating dance passages led by Aleena Alphonse Puthren are all that lingers in the mind after the credits of Gold have passed.

Despite its flaws, Gold’s first half is entertaining. The post-interval downhill slide is so rapid, that the twist in the finale left me cold. No amount of catchy music, production polish and star wattage can camouflage skin-and-bones writing. Gold plating, after all, is just that –plating.

Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars) 

Gold is in theatres

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial

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