The Great Father

Haneef Adeni's first film follows a businessman trying to stay close to his daughter. An event that strikes his family sets him against the hard-edged policeman handling the case, and the contest between them is the film's spine. The film sets up a new example of star-centred action in Malayalam cinema: slow-motion entrances, heavy music and a hero who says little. Mammootty's bearing here influenced the template of the years that followed. The crime at the centre of the narrative is the sexual abuse of a child. The film does not show it, but builds all its tension on the consequence. That choice was debated; some argued the seriousness of the subject did not sit with the tone of an action film. Who it's for: those who like Malayalam action thrillers and Mammootty. Who it's not for: viewers troubled by child abuse being used within genre cinema.