Kireedam would rate very highly for any Mallu movie fan. Besides Mohanlal, Thilakan probably did some of his best work in this movie, playing the upstanding, headstrong head constable who wants to see his son, played by Mohanlal, become a policeman. The son is a happy-go-lucky sort of guy who just wants his dad’s approval. The story turns on one incident, portrayed in this clip, where the father gets beaten up by a goonda, Keerikadan Jose (another reason to remember the movie - I love that name), and the son jumps in to save him, eventually giving into an adrenaline rush to beat up the bad guy and nearly kill him. Things go downhill thereafter, with his friends trying to cash in on his status as a vigilante to boss people around, and the bad guy returning to reclaim his position as top dog. It all ends in tears, predictably, but the performances make you really feel for the main characters. In just this scene, it’s interesting to see Mohanlal’s character transform from bystander to main protagonist as he sees his father get beaten up.
Priyadarshan did try to make this in Hindi as Gardish, with Jackie Shroff and Amrish Puri in the lead roles, but it wasn’t anywhere as good.
