‘Rifle Club’ movie review: Aashiq Abu’s stylish film is worth watching, but needs better writing

Vijayaraghavan, Dileesh Pothan, Darshan Rajendran, Vishnu Agastya and Hanuman in ‘Rifle Club’ scenes. Photo Courtesy: Think Music India/Youtube

Dead wild boars and humans with guns floating down a zip line to a bungalow deep in the woods, dinner conversations filled with tall hunting tales and back-handed compliments, residents for whom guns are the only, and perhaps the only, weapon. The only thing that matters is his life – that’s the world in which Aashiq Abu lives rifle club is set. It’s a closed world with a strict honor code, which doesn’t stop the characters from mercilessly teasing the incompetence of anyone else in the club. And, almost all of them belong to the same family.

Into this world ruled by people with “hunter minds” enters Shahjahan (Vineet Kumar), a film star who wants to shed his romantic image and do a film that involves shooting and hunting – because that’s what it was like in the early 1990s. release of trend tha Mrigaya. It’s not just the onlookers who follow him to the club, but also a couple close to the superstar, who have rubbed Mangalore-based arms dealer Dayanand (Anurag Kashyap) up the wrong way.

Most of the rest of the action takes place at the Rifle Club, which is located in the Western Ghats, and one can easily guess how it is going to unfold from the starting point. It appears that the makers are also aware of this fact, and prefer to rely on interesting action choreography, well-timed adrenaline pumps, and exchanges between the wide range of characters to keep the film moving.

Some of the action set-pieces work really well, especially the sharpshooter thundering through the corridors of the bungalow on a motorcycle, or the entire family staring unblinkingly when a menacing Bheera (Hanuman Jathi) and his gang storm the place. Drops it. Then of course there’s the smart transition to a grainy, VHS wedding video of club secretary Avaran (Dileesh Pothen) and Sicily (Unnimaya Prasad). Aashiq Abu, who has also handled the cinematography, delivers some rich frames that add a lot to the film, along with Rex Vijayan’s music.

Looking at the list of screenwriters – Shyam Pushkaran, Dileesh Karunakaran and Suhas – one can assume that the film has some kind of weight, the kind of writing that carries the film even without excess stylishness. But, even for the genre it belongs to and what it seeks to achieve, there is something hollow at the film’s core that all the style and pacing works hard to cover. Yet, he manages to keep the film engrossed almost throughout by deftly switching between parallel scenarios.

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The weakest writing is perhaps in the climactic exchange between the antagonists and the club members, which is preceded by an interesting buildup, with the leaders taking digs at each other in Malayalam and Hindi. There are mentions of Uzis and the Mexican standoff, but the way it turns out in the end is reminiscent of the good old days. windyIt would work just like any comedy film, but not in this rifle clubWho desperately needed that lift to climax. Few of the vast array of characters register, while at least some of the talented cast appear wasted.

rifle club Its style is worth watching, but more solid writing could have elevated it further.

Rifle Club is currently playing in theaters