2019, Malayalam, Amazon Prime, 8.1/10 IMBD, Directed by Khalid Rahman
Up close and personal on the plight of the Armed Forces and thier Sub inspector who go on an election duty to a Maoist area in Uttarakand.
They are forced to guard the booth with minimal ammunition amidst the fear for their life. You are often reminded of the Hindi flick Newton, where the story threads from the election officer’s point of view. But here the situation is from the perspective of the police men and thier hardship.
Mamooty is phenomenal in playing a 50 years odd sub inspector who has never used his gun much. The veteran actor shines through in many instances where he is responsible for the lives his men yet being helpless to do so.
The state govenment bickering with each other on whose responsibility it is to provide the ammunition, metal detectors to detect land mines, life jacket vest, when it is needed the most to guard the booth, you do feel a churn in your stomach, on the plight of the officers that you often see on duty during tense situations. The skills and training are near zero as none of them have any exposure to real life scenario to handle any emergency situation like the Maoist for instance.
The next time you see a police patrol on any public gathering, I am sure you are going to stop a while in respect for the sacrifice they do without even recognizing the amount of danger they are put through by the system.
What the movies like Arrambam with a huge budget involving multiple start casts, overloaded with masala elements can’t do, Unda does. It insists that the lives of the police men are not valued enough by the government by not providing quality life jackets amongst other things. Unda does all this with its Simple yet Realistic making with some Quality Performance invariably by every single artist casted in the movie.
Must watch.