Lyca Productions, Aashirvad Cinemas Pvt. Ltd. and Sree Gokulam Movies’ L2: Empuraan (dubbed from the Malayalam film of the same name; UA) is an action thriller and a sequel to Lucifer (2019).
Kerala chief minister Jathin Ramdas (Tovino Thomas) decides to break away from his party and form a new one. For this, he aligns with the wily Baba Bajrangi/Balaraj (Abhimanyu Singh). His sister, Priyadarshini Ramdas (Manju Warrier), strongly opposes his move and decides to revive their late father, erstwhile chief minister P.K. Ramdas’ (Sachin Khedekar) political party. Meanwhile, Khureshi Ab’raam (Mohanlal), also known as Stephen Nedumpally, returns to set things right in Kerala. However, his other issues are his involvement in global affairs and his conflict with Kabooga’s drug cartel.
How does Stephen’s return impact Kerala’s political scenario? Why does he consider Bajrangi/Balaraj as a rival? How is Bajrangi connected to Zayed Masood (Prithviraj Sukumaran)?
Murali Gopy has written a story and screenplay, both of which are long-winding and not consistently interesting. Therefore, the drama becomes too lengthy with a lot of back stories which tend to get boring. There are confusing as well as some dull moments in the first half. The pace picks up post-interval. The portion of Priyadarshini Ramdas is the only emotional part in the drama, and it is well written. The intrigue surrounding Stephen Nedumpally and later around his death are engaging. But the drama lacks novelty and, in the final tally, turns out to be ordinary. Besides, there are too many characters in the drama. The climax is quite exciting. The entry of the grown-up Zayed Masood towards the end adds thrill because the character is played by Prithviraj Sukumaran. The drama lacks light moments. Dialogues are okay but they should’ve been more punch-packed. Also, a lot of English dialogues have been used in the film, which comes in the way of the audience understanding them fully. The liberal use of English dialogues is a major minus point.
Mohanlal does a fantastic job as Khureshi Ab’raam alias Stephen Nedumpally. He lends tremendous power to his character. Prithviraj Sukumaran looks very handsome and shines in a brief role as Zayed Masood. Tovino Thomas is impressive as Jathin Ramdas, his good looks being an added advantage. But he gets limited scope. Abhimanyu Singh makes a lovely mark as Baba Bajrangi/Balaraj. Manju Warrier lends fair support in the role of Priyadarshini Ramdas. Her performance needed to be more fiery. Indrajith Sukumaran makes a wonderful mark as Govardhan. Kishore is natural as Karthik. Sukant Goel has his moments as Munna. Eriq Ebouaney is suitably vicious as Kabooga. Karthikeya Dev is natural as young Zayed Masood. Nikhat Khan lends good support as Subhadraben. Fazil makes a lovely mark as Father Nedumpally. Sachin Khedekar stands his own in a tiny role as P.K. Ramdas. Suraj Venjaramoodu (as Sajanachandran), Saikumar (as Mahesha Varma), Baiju Santhosh (as Murukan), Nandhu (as Peethambaran), Murugan Martin (as Muthu), Shivaji Guruvayoor (as Medayil Rajan), Manikuttan (as Mani), Nyla Usha (as Arundathi Sanjeev), Giju John (as Sanjeev Kumar), Behzaad Khan (as Salabath Hamza), Aneesh G. Menon (as Sumesh), Shivada (as Sreelakha) and Jaise Jose (as Xavier) lend lovely support. Andrea Jivadar (as Michele Menuhin), Jerome Flynn (as Boris Oliver), Oziel Jivani (as Zaheer Masood), Alexx O’Nell (as Robert McCarthy), Mikhail Novikov (as Sergie Leonov), Saniya Iyappan (as Jhanvi), Satyajit Sharma (as Masood), Oziel Jivani (as Zaheer Masood), Aishwarya Ojha (as Haniya), Nayan Bhatt (as Suraiya Bibi), Shubhangi Latkar (as Bahija Begum), Rick Yune (as leader of Shenlong Shen Triad), and the others provide decent support.
Prithviraj Sukumaran’s direction is nice. He has made the film a visual treat but the drama is not too taut. Deepak Dev’s music is good. The background music is very nice. Sujith Vasudev’s cinematography is extraordinary. However, a lot of night scenes have been shot in minimal lighting, which irritates the audience as they have to strain their eyes. Action scenes are supremely thrilling. Production designing is terrific. Akhilesh Mohan’s editing is sharp but the film’s running time of 3 hours is a big problem. Dubbing is superb.
On the whole, L2: Empuraan is an average entertainer for the Hindi audience. Of course, the Hindi dubbed version would not do much business (which the original is expected to do) and that’s because of various reasons, lack of promotion being one of them.
Released on 27-3-’25 at Inox (daily 5 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: so-so. Opening: below the mark. …….Also released all over. Opening was very ordinary at most of the places.