A police unit of a few officers from Kerala is sent to Chhattisgarh on Election duty in a risky area known for its Maoist movements. The nine-man unit is led by Mammootty as a Sub-inspector, but the problem is that neither their leader nor anyone among the officers has any kind of prior experience of providing security in such dangerous region.
Above all, they neither have the advanced guns nor ammunition to perform the assigned duties. And then expecting them to be provided by the State authorities soon, they fire most of the bullets they have in the first shoot-out itself with only a handful left in the stock.
As I feel, the above short description should be more than enough to create excitement for the novel project. But adding further, UNDA directed by Khalid Rahman and written (scripted) by Harshad, is actually based on a real life incident around 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, news of which was read by the makers in a Malayalam daily.
Featuring Mammooty, Asif Ali, Shine Tom Chacko, Jacob Gregory, Arjun Ashokan, Bhagwan Tiwari and more in the key roles, the film has a novel subject, writing, execution, cinematography and performances, beginning like an eye-opener realistic film with many well-directed sequences. But what further grabs your attention is its outstanding and haunting background score, as an exceptional and worth exploring individual feature of the project itself.
Composed by Prashant Pillai, the soundtrack features folk singers from the region of Bastar and the tracks were reportedly recorded visiting the local villages involving kids and also old people.
Aptly titled UNDA meaning Bullet in Malayalam pointing towards the core theme, the film doesn’t have any women characters in the screenplay with only a couple of sequences having them in the backdrop. It begins impressively as a true to life drama and then slowly becomes a black comedy, ending on quite a different note unexpectedly. In fact, an avoidable and filmy culmination remains its only drawback and the reason why the film doesn’t get featured in the Movies To See Before You Die list at BTC.
Nevertheless, UNDA still is a not to be missed film unarguably with a concept that reveals a lot about our faulty administrative system, the class divide and the open discrimination between the people as well as the states ever after seven decades of independence!
So go for it as a must and give it a thought.
Rating : 4 / 5
(Note : UNDA can be seen at Amazon Prime for a subscription with English Subtitles)
Tags :
UNDA (Malayalam) Review by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, UNDA based on real life news clip on Police and 2014 Elections, Indian Regional Language Gems List by Bobby Sing, Must Watch Indian Regional Movies with English Subtitles, Mammootty Must Watch Films
