In a heist movie, we see lot of planning before the execution of the robbery. Kohinoor directed by “Kili Poyi” fame director Vinay Govind show all the planning side of a robbery in a detailed manner but when it came to the execution of the plan, the robbery team messes up things on many occasions leaving the movie on a sticky terrain. Still there is no amount of boredom in the movie and as a fun filled entertainer, Kohinoor can stake its claim to be a proud member of that genre.
The story revolves around Louis and Aandy Kunju who are childhood friends who wants to make quick bucks at any cost. That means they are ready to be part of a robbery or a smuggling deal which lands the duo in a heist operation for diamonds in the backdrop of a textile shop.
By halfway stage, I was quite sceptical about the outcome of the film. I thought with the way it is heading towards,there was every chance the film could end up on a sore note. It is not that the first half had nothing entertaining. It had humour and fun backed by cool performances to its credit but the robbery was being reduced to the sidelines and we are shown in detail about the planning of the heist and also an out of place romance that didn’t sync up nicely with the plot.
There are unexpected twists and turns towards the end which were lively enough but you cannot say those were highly unpredictable. Some more element of suspense and thrills in the screenplay was badly required to spice up and compliment things. Romantic angle in the movie, well there is one between Louis and Daisy which did not work out well and it only made things look weak.
Set in the eighties, the film has a retro feel which in way was a safe ploy and helped the writers to ensure that we cannot find any inadequacies in the script especially the operation part of the robbery. We could hear all those golden songs of the eighties at many points and also there are references to movies like CBI and Irupathaam Noottaandu getting a mention on many occasions. This created an overall positive mood and feel for the film.
Asif Ali and Aju Varghese as Louis and Aandy Kunju played a perfect foil to each other mainly adding the fun element. Asif had the additional responsibility of playing the romantic side as a lover too. Similar to Asif and Aju, Chemban Vinod and Vinay Fort also excelled as a pair with their comic timing.
Indrajith as Haider had a style element and he enacted the role quite well eventhough on many occasions we can see him on the loosing side. Sudheer Karamana as Maaman and Rizabhaava as his business partner did a neat act. Aparna Vinod as Daisy, the female lead didn’t had to do much as her share in the overall screen presence is very limited.
Rahul Raj deserves a mention for his retro style background score as well tuning the “Hemantham” song sung by Vijay Yesudas which had real soul in it. The other song Dum Dum is a just a passable party song where actress Bhavana make an appearance in a cameo.
Overall, Kohinoor is a one time watchable average film. As an entertainer with humour and fun in the backdrop and some twists in the latter stages, this Vinay Govind directed flick cannot be discarded as a bad film but there is nothing exciting also other than providing some fun and thrills in parts. My personal rating is two and a half out of five.