Mirage, the Malayalam film streaming on OTT, is directed by Jeetu Joseph. His reputation as a master of the crime thriller genre precedes his movies. He gained national recognition with Drishyam—1 & 2 and established a new genre called the Drishyam genre. However, his other films, like Memories, Neru, Nunakuzhi, Kooman, and others, confirm his standing as an authority in the crime investigation genre. Therefore, a movie by Jeethu Joseph is viewed with much greater scrutiny. They have to be real and not just.
Mirage opens very interestingly. In fact, it sets a lot of intrigue within the first few minutes of the film. Not long after it starts, the heroine’s fiancée goes missing, triggering a criminal investigation. But then, we should always remember the film’s title. From this point, the focus shifts to different characters – a wannabe investigative journalist, the heroine’s colleague and friend, a senior police officer, and the owner of the finance company where the heroine works, among others. Along the way, a few more characters are added to the web. The screenplay is crafted so that every character becomes a suspect in some way, and by the time we reach the interval, it’s time for the reveals and twists.
The film, until the interval, keeps us engaged, although we can anticipate some of the twists that follow. However, after the interval, the screenplay is all reveals and reveals that are not organic and seem entirely forced. In an interview, Kamal Haasan mentioned that when he collaborates with Crazy Mohan, their goal is to have a LOL moment every 5 to 10 minutes. Here, Jeethu and his co-writer Sreenivasan Abrol seem to aim for a twist every 15 to 20 minutes. As a result, the second half becomes tiring with twists and reveals that are so tiring, putting an Abbas–Mastan “Race franchise” film to shame.
Aparna Balamurali is the lead protagonist here, around whom the other characters are woven. She does a fine job portraying the given character arc, though the writing lets her character down towards the end. Asif Ali, as the journalist, has a cakewalk role that he manages well. Sampath Raj, as the cop, is impressive. Strangely, this is a film about Malayali characters but set in Coimbatore. The characters switch between Malayalam and Tamil seamlessly, and one wonders about the logic of setting this film in Tamil Nadu.
One must commend Jeethu for bringing up interesting story ideas like this one. However, it seems he and his writing team first chose the title, crafted all the twists, and then built the story around them. Although the film is technically well-made, the overthought screenplay detracts from it, especially towards the end. The contrived second climax, which occurs after a character promises “No more surprises,” was neither surprising nor interesting.
Coming to think of it, Mirage is not a bad film at all. However, at the end of it, it gives the illusion of a bad film just because of the contrived and ill-conceived last 20 minutes. Once the final reveal is also out, you realise how badly a great idea was executed. If only the director chose not to be over indulgent…
Mirage is streaming now on Sony Liv.
AnandKumarRSonFilms 
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