3 Dots Movie Reviews

Story :

3 Dots’, his second film after the thoroughly enjoyable ‘Ordinary’, is an all-out entertainer. I expected and wanted it to be a thorough entertainer, but somehow the packaging seems to have gone wrong somewhere and it doesn’t work the way ‘Ordinary’ worked.

The problem, I feel, about ‘3 Dots’ is that nothing much happens till about three-fourths of it is done. Till then there is not much of a pace and the premise, which is in fact interesting, hasn’t been developed in a good way. And then, as we are drawing to a close, things start picking up. Well, there is supposed to be a twist at this stage; but, having seen so many films of this genre, we sort of keep expecting the ‘twist’ to happen at some stage. I did expect it to happen the way it happens…

‘3 Dots’ is the story of three guys with criminal background. Vishnu (Kunchacko Boban) is a small time thief, specializing in stealing mobile phones; he finally gets caught and lands up in jail. Padma Kumar alias Pappan (Pratap Pothen) worked in a bank, but his extra-marital affair leads him to do some swindling and ultimately he too gets jailed. Louis (Biju Menon) is an unscrupulous goonda who doesn’t think twice before thrashing or stabbing people. He too lands up in jail. These three guys are lodged in the same cell and end up being good friends.

Eventually the three of them get released. It’s Pappan who is released first. When he leaves jail, he asks Vishnu and Louis to come to his flat once they are out. Accordingly Vishnu and Louis land up in Pappan’s flat. Then they start thinking of earning a livelihood by dint of honest, hard work. Vishnu attends interviews for jobs, but the ‘jailbird’ tag comes in every time and he is unable to find a job. It’s then that they decide to go meet Dr. Isaac Samuel (Narain), a psychologist and criminologist who used to visit their jail and conduct classes for prisoners. Dr. Isaac had also invited them to visit him once they are free.

Dr. Isaac, a well-wisher, asks the three of them to take up the management of a day-care centre for kids. Vishnu meanwhile had started a private ambulance service. So the three friends now manage the day-care centre and run the ambulance too. In the meantime they understand that Dr. Isaac is fighting a legal battle with his wife for divorce and legal custody of his only son and that he is a bit depressed about that.

From here develops the plot. Having seen ‘Ordinary’ and having the feel that the director is all likely to repeat himself as regards the style and format, you expect a twist to happen half way through the film. I expected it and the fact is that it happened exactly the way I expected it to happen. The consequent happenings too went the way I expected.

Well, knowing the suspense beforehand is not a big deal; and it shouldn’t come in the way of your enjoying the film either. But there are other things -the packaging, the pace, the loudness, the humour quotient etc, when it comes to a film that’s intended to be an entertainer. That’s where ‘3 Dots’ fails. The film, courtesy its script, doesn’t go that great until the suspense element comes in and then on it doesn’t offer anything special or new.

In short, ‘3 Dots’ is just a so so kind of film and doesn’t come up to the expected level…

Performance

Both Kunchacko Boban and Biju Menon seem to be repeating themselves these days. I personally feel Biju Menon should do such roles only once in a while and Chackochan too should go a bit more innovative. I don’t mean their performances are not good; it’s just that writers and directors now seem to be casting them in stereotyped roles again and again. Pratap Pothen is not bad, but he doesn’t have much to do. Narain is his very usual self and looks good. The ladies don’t have much to do…The rest are all OK with their respective roles.

Technical aspects

Cinematography by Faisal Ali is in sync with the mood of the film. Art-work by Suresh Kollam too is good.

Music

Of the songs, the ‘Thampurane…’ number is good, suits the mood of an entertainer and may stay on everyone’s lips for some time.

Script

Rajesh Raghavan, who has penned the script based on story by the director, should have made it all more eventful and a bit more loud and pacy. He has failed on the characterization side too, with only the three protagonists being on focus and all others being neglected. Had the script been better, ‘3 Dots’ would have been a thorough entertainer…

Direction

Sugeeth is in control as regards direction. But he, along with the writer, should have packaged it a bit differently and then the film would have been much better.