Inspector Garud

Language : Malayalam
Banner : Galaxy Films
Director : Johny Antony
Producer : Milan Jaleel
Camera : P. Sukumar
Story : Uday Krishna, Sibi K Thomas
Screenplay : Uday Krishna, Sibi K Thomas
Dialogue : Uday Krishna, Sibi K Thomas
Lyrics : Vayalar Sarathchandra Varma
Music : Alex Paul
Distribution : Galaxy Film Release
Release : 2007 January 27
Cast : Dileep, Kavya Madhavan, Aishwarya, Vijayaraghavan, Harisree Asokan, Cochin Haneefa, Salim Kumar, Innocent.

When you go to see the Dileep-starrer Inspector Garud directed by Johny Antony, you'd expect another film like CID Moosa or Kochi Raajaavu. And that is what Inspector Garud doesn't happen to be. For Dileep fans and for fans of Johny Antony (the director of such roaring hits as CID Moosa, Kochi Raajaavu and Thuruppugulan) the film is a disappointment. At the end of it, you feel all wasted and that justifies the booing that could be heard towards the end of the film on the first day itself.

Inspector Garud tells the story of young Circle Inspector Madhavankutty, nicknamed 'Garudan', who is steeped in corruption and is a master at bribery. Karaikudi Arumughan Palaniappa Chettiar and his son Saravanan get involved in arms smuggling with a terrorist group based in Mumbai. The weapons are kept in a slum which is under the control of Chettiar. Due to negligence on the part of Lonappan, who is in charge of safe-keeping of the weapons, the Police come to know of it. Trouble starts brewing for Chettiar and Co.

Circle Inspector Rajan Joseph, who is an honest cop, is bent on bringing the crooks to book, but the baddies manage to complicate things and get him suspended. And then Chettiar and Co, upon the advice of their manager Sivan Pillai, bring in Madhavankutty, to help them out of this predicament. Madhavankutty obliges after accepting a hefty bribe.

In the meantime, the Collector Sandhya Gopinath hands over the inquiry of the case involving the arms to the newly appointed Sub Collector Sethulakshmi. Soon after Sethulakshmi takes charge, a clash takes place between her and Madhavankutty. The latter is humiliated, and vows to have his revenge by marrying Sethulakshmi. How he achieves this and what all happens as a consequence forms the plot of Inspector Garud.

Dileep as Madhavankutty shines in the first half as the corrupt and funny police officer. But towards the end, when it is time for action, Dileep doesn't impress in anyway and even his fans seem to get bored. It has been proved earlier in The Don that action is not what people expect from Dileep. Kavya Madhavan as Sethulakshmi is good, but the clash between Madhavankutty and Sethulakshmi could have been worked out better and the film would have benefited much.

Vijayaraghavan as Karaikudi Arumughan Palaniappa Chettiar is a good choice while Laloo Aalex (that's the way he spells his name now) as Rajan Joseph hasn't got much to do. Anand as Saravanan is OK. Salim Kumar as Lonappan and Harisree Ashokan as the small-time politician Kuttappan could have been used better to enhance the comedy aspects of the film. Both these actors have handled their roles in their characteristic style. Innocent as Head Constable Raghavan impresses. The others in the cast are just passable.

As for the technical aspects, cinematography by P. Sukumar, editing by Ranjan Abraham and art-direction by Salu K. George are in sync with the theme and the mood. Background score by Ouseppachan is OK. Of the songs, "Kaanthaari penne..." penned by Santhosh Varma and set to tune by Alex Paul is a typical Johny Antony brand number and is reminiscent of a similar song in CID Moosa. The other songs are just average.

The way the song "Kannum chimmi chimmi..." has been visualized reminds you of the Tamil song "Kicku eruthey..." in the Rajnikanth starrer Padayappa and even Dileep seems to imitate the Tamil superstar. Scenarists Udayakrishna and Sibi K. Thomas and director Johny Antony should have packaged the film better, adding more humour and comedy, because that is what people seem to have expected.

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