Passenger - Review

Why you might want to watch it:

• A Malayalam film that promises to be different and off the beaten track
• Dileep and Sreenivasan come together 

The Good: Casting, Plot, Racy, No songs!    
The Bad: No major cribs   

Look out for: Jagathy Sreekumar as the corrupt minister who proves he can be funny and evil in the same breath! 

Bottomline: The problem with some mainstream Malayalam movies is that they lose the plot in their quest for the perfect commercial recipe for success. Sometimes these films end of looking downright silly because they do not have the huge budgets or the scale of their Southern counterparts. Passenger is one of those films that Malayalam cinema can be proud of - its a reminder that content can truly be king and the biggest stars (Dileep!) can work within the parameters of a tight script. Ranjith Shankar the Techie turned first-time writer director spent 4-5 years on this script (Read interview) and it shows! Passenger follows the lives of Sathyanathan a typical common man (Sreenivasan, who else!) and a daily commuter on an inter-city train, Advocate Nandan (Dileep) and Anuradha (Mamta Mohandas) a TV journalist. Anuradha's sting operation to expose a corrupt minister (Jagathy) and his backlash bring Nandan, Anuradha and Sathyanathan together in a space of one fateful night. The result is a racy, gripping film with a linear plot and an underlying energy from start to finish. Sreenivasan is brilliant, clearly in his comfort zone and as usual strikes an instant chord with the audience. Passenger is easily one of the best Malayalam films in the last few years and it proves it is possible to make a mainstream film that is entertaining yet trendsetting.     

Running Time: 125 mins (Approx)