Director Mathukutty Xavier, who directed the original Malayalam version ‘Helen’, once again pulled our strings on our hearts and brought us to the edge of our seats with the way he crafted the story.
Director Mathukutty Xavier, who directed the original Malayalam version ‘Helen’, once again pulled our strings on our hearts and brought us to the edge of our seats with the way he crafted the story.
Malayalam movie remake Helen, Milik is a tense survivor drama that manages to have emotional turmoil due to its central conceit, but fails to keep up. With the original film and a trailer already in a public place, the premise of the film is no longer a surprise and it reduces to the what and why of the story. Nevertheless, director Mathukutty Xavier, who directed the original Malayalam version, once again managed to pull our hearts out and get us to the edge of our seats with the way the story was made.
Mili Naudyal (Janhvi Kapoor) lives in Dehradun with her father. A trained nurse, she aspires to go abroad, and meanwhile, works at a food joint in a mall. Shifting from Kerala to Uttarakhand is reassuring as both the states have a strong presence in the paramedical and hospitality industry. Like 1975’s Miley, she brings joy to all around her. She has a strong bond with her father (Manoj Pahwa), who has raised her single-handedly and is in a romantic relationship with an entrepreneur but unemployed Sameer (Sunny Kaushal), who is not from her caste.
On an emotionally difficult day, Miley is unintentionally locked in the store’s freezer; How she survives makes up the rest of the story.
She’s improving with every writer-backed (or we producer dads-backed) role, but Jhanvi’s work is still in progress, She is cute in sweet moments with Pahwa and plays a simple yet spirited girl. But when it comes to creating unspoken warmth in a cold place, Janhvi stumbles. She also needs to work on the modulation of her voice, as it lacks clarity in the scenes that draw her emotionally.
found
Director: Mathukutty Xavier
Cast: Janhvi Kapoor, Sunny Kaushal, Manoj Pahwa
Story: A survival drama fighting to stay alive with a woman trapped in a freezer
After a taut build-up, one realizes that the screenplay is replete with too many coincidences and the proceedings in and out of the freezer are completely predictable. There’s no red herring to keep us busy, and AR Rahman’s music doesn’t add much to the atmosphere.
moments and performances from supporting actors that keep the momentum going; Suspicion on Sameer’s credibility, the inside story of the manager (Vikram Kochhar)…
Pahwa shines as the normal father who is struggling to quit smoking. This is a character that is commonly found in our films and has been played by Pankaj Tripathi and Kumud Mishra in the past, but Pahwa makes us feel for Mr Naudiyal. Similarly, Anurag Arora is once again confident as a police officer who brings his social bias into his work, and in a scene role, Jackie Shroff shows how an alcoholic is not useless to society.
Can’t say the same for a remake nowadays!
Miley is currently running the theater