L2: Empuraan | Lucifer Gets A Brave, Entertaining Sequel

L2: Empuraan | Prithviraj Makes An Entertaining, Even Brave Sequel

As much as L2 is a film to celebrate Mohanlal, Prithviraj’s decision to manoeuvre this as an urgent reconciliation with the present-day Indian establishment will echo for years to come, writes Aditya Shrikrishna .

IN THE LUCIFER UNIVERSE, created and written by Murali Gopy and directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran, one of the most exciting characters is Baiju Santhosh’s Murukan. A party worker and spy as well as a stand-in for occasional outsider commentary, his quips and nonchalance offer breathing space in the two films that otherwise are busy and eventful. In the sequel, L2: Empuraan , he lists a three-point spiel to accompany a tertiary character’s ascendance. It is momentous, funny and pointed, and has little to do with either Mohanlal or Prithviraj, the pair that forms the pivot for this film, but that is also why it is joyous and spellbinding within the larger philosophy contained in the story. A quickfire lesson in politicking dispensed with ease.

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The rest of L2: Empuraan is not as lean. It is packed with backstories and details, with word pairs that sound like they were picked from a raffle, like God Axis and Shen Triad. Mohanlal’s Stephen Nedumpally aka Khureshi Ab’raam teleports and levitates. One day he is in Iraq, another day he is somewhere in central Africa. A few minutes later he is in a developed country in the west. And then he makes a grand appearance in Nedumpally, Kerala.

This mystical figure projects the necessary aura thanks to Mohanlal’s stature, and Prithviraj borrows from Nelson Dilipkumar in how the latter used Rajini in his Jailer: As the man who stays in the background and operates a remote control, his godlike emanation turning everyone around him into a pawn. He is a good Samaritan with endless resources, and also a wanted fugitive. But L2: Empuraan incorporates this shadow figure far more effectively, shielding him from the real bullets to launch him as a kingmaker and non-state actor who descends upon the earth with his minions to rescue it from apocalypse. Honestly, L2 is a lot; it is dense, and a hodgepodge of espionage tropes and standard Indian masala genre compulsions. To its credit, it is never boring, to the point that the three-hour runtime feels like a breeze.

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In the last few years, Prithviraj has insisted over several interviews that he wishes to deliver that truly big budget spectacle film for Malayalam. L2: Empuraan is indeed big budget, compared to the norm in Malayalam cinema. With that cash boost, it flies across locales, incorporates stealth helicopters, features known international faces like Jerome Flynn of Game of Thrones , and boasts superior production values. It is also unabashed fan service for Mohanlal, a mandatory condition for these big budget extravaganzas that scream for pan India incorporation.

Unlike the films we are used to, however, L2 does not piggyback on stars and cameos and a female lead from across industries. The sleight of hand, quite unexpectedly, is how it situates the film’s politics in a present-day Kerala, a sort of last bastion along with Tamil Nadu, that is threatened by majoritarian Hindutva ambitions. The Indian Union Front (IUF) — an Indian National Congress-like party in the film’s universe — is in loggerheads with the opposition RPI (M) that represents the Left parties of Kerala. As Jathin Ramds (Tovino Thomas) drops a bombshell in the beginning of the film by quitting IUF, L2 introduces a subplot where the right-wing party, which is saffron tinged and has words like akhand and morcha in its name, uses this tussle and the volatility in the IUF to make inroads into Kerala.

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The film takes on both present day as well as recent incidents of this history; it begins by depicting the 2002 Gujarat pogrom with graphic violence that necessitates a massive trigger warning. Almost everything we have known and heard about the communal violence against the Muslim population of Gujarat is realised here, a microcosm of the state in a delicate, infirm shed. The architect is Abhimanyu Singh’s Balraj aka Baba Bajrangi (the name leaves little doubt), a character that Singh is not unfamiliar with. Prithviraj probably cast him by taking inspiration in his somewhat similar character in Anurag Kashyap’s Gulaal .

Prithviraj throws up both graphic imagery as well as obvious imagery that is not as obvious for an audience saturated with sanitised visuals when it comes to depicting communal violence. He shows Muslim places of business and areas attacked by Hindu mobs not once but twice as acts of meaningless retribution (the Godhra train burning accompanies the opening credits). Rarely has Indian mainstream cinema confronted this sordid chapter in recent Indian history, and not always with the right perspective. Nandita Das’s Firaaq (2008) and Rahul Dhokia’s Parzania (2007) approach the events with appropriate sensitivity while Abhishek Kapoor’s Kai Po Che! chooses a blinkered view. The former two are not so mainstream and L2 is probably the first big budget, star-backed film to dare to go there.

In designing L2 as a revenge film for Prithviraj’s Zayed Masood and his origin story, the film centers a Muslim experience in Narendra Modi’s India, something rarely done in mainstream film, almost never in a masala film. Everything from RRR to Pushpa to KGF focus on cults of personalities that employ a sterilised mix of corruption and oppression to create their larger-than-life heroes who take on apolitical establishments. L2 is probably the first film in a long time that is not only cinema as fan service of a star but also a big budget, high voltage action drama that doesn’t have an ounce of nationalism in its fabric. In other words, it is no Pathaan or War . Its villains and antagonists are homegrown, it is Kerala’s identity and integrity that is at stake against larger, nationalist, provincial forces in the mainland. Not since Dholakia’s Raees (2017) has a unifying secular effort through a Muslim character’s voice arrived in the garb of a commercial big budget star entertainer.

Not all action set pieces in L2 work. The one that is most impactful occurs in the forests of Nedumpally, somewhat like the first film. The international intrigue is strictly functional, Sujith Vaasudev’s anamorphic lenses capture grand vistas with gunfire and bullet holes. The film’s central plot relating to anti-secular forces is given more weightage followed by the film’s take on Kerala’s rhetoric in the exchanges between IUF’s Mahesha Varma (Saikumar) and RPI’s Medayil Rajan (Shivaji Guruvayoor) as they wash linen of all stature, from Emergency to ideological wilderness with the kind of levity that makes it easy to digest. Manju Warrier gets a couple of incredible moments in the second half, but this is really Zayed’s film. As much as it is a film to celebrate Mohanlal, Prithviraj’s decision to manoeuvre this as an urgent reconciliation with the present day Indian establishment will echo for years to come.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of OTTplay. The author is solely responsible for any claims arising out of the content of this column.

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