12th Man movie review: Team Drishyam returns with a McDonald’s-style take on Agatha Christie whodunnits

Language: Malayalam

A team-up between actor Mohanlal and director Jeethu Joseph will forever more carry with it a burden of high expectations. The two, after all, made the 2013 blockbuster Drishyam that not only broke theatrical records among traditional Malayalam film viewers but also drew nationwide attention and spawned remakes from several Indian film industries. By the time Drishyam 2 came around, India was deep into the OTT era and fell in love with this sequel in its original language itself, making it one of the most-talked-about releases of the pandemic. 

Though Drishyam bore a resemblance to a Japanese literary thriller, Jeethu denied having read it before his script was ready and said that he was inspired by a real-life incident. The film’s appeal extended way beyond the murder and cover-up at its centre anyway. Drishyam’s strength lay in the localisation of an enthralling mystery the basics of which could be transported to any country on the globe, its entertaining realism, socio-cultural insights, sense of humour, intricate characterisation and the very human tale of two families in distress. 

As a diehard Agatha Christie buff, I confess I had mixed feelings when I heard of Jeethu’s new collaboration with Lalettan. The director likened 12th Man: Unveiling The Shadows to the great British crime novelist’s works while informing the press that it is a saga of 12 people gathered at one place and unfolds largely over the course of one day. The trailer further disclosed these ingredients: 11 friends, multiple secrets, an intruder (the 12th man of the title), night-time, a sudden death. Uh oh… 

It’s one thing to forgive a solitary instance of ‘inspiration’, but did this new venture indicate a bankruptcy of the imagination? Or would Jeethu, as with Drishyam, refashion a core idea into a brilliant, thoroughly Indian adaptation? 

Mohanlal in a still from 12th Man

Now that 12th Man is out, it can be said with clarity that it is not a Christie copy, it simply pays tribute to a structure she was fond of: a group of people compelled to stay on at a place where there has been a mystifying death, and a detective holding court. How Jeethu and the writers, Sunir Kheterpal (credited for the story) and K.R. Krishnakumar (screenplay and dialogues), build on that kernel is the question to now be examined. 

In 12th Man, 11 youngsters – friends from college and their spouses – meet for a celebration at a mountain resort in the remote, gorgeous Kerala countryside when an offensive stranger (Mohanlal) disrupts their peace. Shortly thereafter, fun and banter devolve into a game between the friends that threatens to destroy ties nurtured over a period of many years. 

As tensions explode in their faces, a tragic death occurs. During the course of the investigation that lasts through the night, several terrible truths are unveiled.

12th Man’s first hour is engaging as it becomes clearer and clearer with each passing minute that there is plenty lying buried beneath the apparent bonding between these supposed buddies. Krishnakumar’s writing is on solid ground while he portrays the game between the friends kicking off in a natural, believable fashion, and how each is compelled to join in – and stay in – although one by one they all become uncomfortable with it. 

The maiden revelation comes from a smoothly written, unexpected turn of events. The rapid unravelling of the bonhomie among the gathering is well written and directed. 

After the death at the resort, you might wonder why the friends allow themselves to be subjected to a probe that is often extra-legal (they grant the investigator access to their phones and don’t object to intimidation), but there is a credible explanation: they each have personal, professional and/or financial compulsions to return to the city immediately, hence they are in a rush to get this over and done with. Besides, the detective is playing on their psychology that was also at work during their party game – each person is likely to be afraid of opting out, for fear of raising suspicion among the others that she/he alone has something to hide; some think they are smart enough to outwit the rest.

With the premise firmly established, Mohanlal in full flow as the annoying intruder in this assembly, and a cast of dependable, likeable, well-known younger actors playing the friends, 12th Man should have aced its second act. Instead, the proceedings become progressively less absorbing due to various factors. 

The script does not spend much time on character development. As a result, the audience is given little reason to invest in any of these people or their fate. The entire ensemble need not necessarily have been written in detail, but here none of them are. The only one who is set apart from the others in a very obvious way is Fida (played by Leona Lishoy) who is a stereotype of the smart, independent single woman as seen through a conservative Indian gaze more common in Hindi than Malayalam cinema: she is a divorcee, and her smoking habit is pointedly highlighted. I could almost imagine a list of descriptors for each of the 11 at the concept stage in which Fida was labelled “the modern type”. Couple that with a stray remark about Mohanlal’s character Chandrashekhar’s singleton status, and you have to know that this is not a conscious portrayal of social prejudice in Malayali/Indian society by the writers, but their own subconscious prejudice revealing itself.

Though the initial twists in 12th Man have considerable surprise value, each turn of events in the second half is less compelling than the previous one. 

Beyond its whodunnit aspect, 12th Man lacks the sociological and cultural detailing that enriched Drishyam. For a start, the Drishyams would have been half the films they were without that chaaya kada, Georgekutty’s craze for Malayalam cinema, the distinctive architecture of those homes and  those colourful locals. In contrast, the friends in 12th Man could be from any city in Kerala; frankly, they could be Malayalis from any large Indian city; and apart from the fact that they speak Malayalam, there is nothing to particularly distinguish them from any well-off, urban, urbane Indian from any Indian metropolis. 

Jeethu here also does that thing that too many contemporary Malayalam filmmakers do when they consciously design their films as products for a pan-India market rather than cinema that develops organically: the tendency is to insert a song or two with Hindi and/or English lyrics into their soundtrack as though these are the languages of universality and hipness (c’mon!). These numbers are almost always incongruous with their setting. 

12th Man begins and ends with an English composition by Anil Johnson that is woven into innovatively arranged opening credits. Despite its prettiness and Souparnika Rajgopal’s lovely voice, the overall effect of the writing choices and the decision to feature this song in the film is that watching 12th Man is like eating McDonald’s fast food on a transcontinental trip – it is standardised and hence safe for those who are not experimental, it is hygienic and low cost, and it can never give the pleasure and excitement that the diversity of flavours in world cuisine offers. This McDonald’s approach to filmmaking removes the very quality that has made the Malayalam new New Wave popular across India: rootedness that leads to universal relatability.  

It would perhaps have been wise to lower the bar of expectations early in 12th Man, when a sudden burst of song at a party prompts the friends to dance, not as normal folk do in real life, but arranging themselves as though they are aware that they are characters in a film, not actual people, and must therefore face the camera and us, the audience. 

Jeethu Joseph’s new film takes off with some promise, but ends up as ordinary despite its credentials and cast (though I wonder why Siddique was wasted in a few-seconds-long appearance that adds nothing to the narrative). Everyone does a decent enough job, but no one – not even Mohanlal – stands out.

12th Man is okay enough entertainment while it lasts, but “okay enough” and “decent enough” are hardly acceptable from the team that gave us the Drishyams.

Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars) 

12th Man is streaming on Disney+Hotstar

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial 

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