Sometimes, a movie’s title gains profound meaning by its closing scenes, leaving audiences impressed by its cleverness. Jeethu Joseph’s Mirage attempts a similar feat, yet it leaves viewers wondering if the filmmakers themselves truly grasped the significance of their own title. The film’s final act is a relentless parade of misleading revelations, each designed to make you believe it’s the ultimate twist, only for the screenwriter to pull yet another surprise from their hat.
After navigating through this labyrinth of ‘mirages,’ one eventually reaches what’s presented as the true climax, exhausted and vowing never to trust a character in a film again. In essence, screenwriters Jeethu and Srinivasan Abrol were chasing their own mirage: the illusion of a perfect, unpredictable thriller climax. This singular focus on shocking twists, however, becomes the film’s ultimate downfall, sacrificing coherence and believability for the sake of constant surprises.
Mirage (Malayalam)
The story kicks off with Kiran (Hakkim Shajahan) dying in a train accident. His fiancée, Abhirami (Aparna Balamurali), immediately suspects foul play when a businessman’s henchman and a high-ranking police officer show up at her door, aggressively searching for a hard disk allegedly containing incriminating information belonging to Kiran. Driven by a desire for a sensational scoop, Ashwin (Asif Ali), an online reporter, joins Abhirami in her relentless pursuit of the elusive hard disk and the truth.
While the film wastes no time diving into the mystery, its overly dramatic presentation and awkward dialogue—especially from the supposed villains—unfortunately spoil the suspense early on. A character portrayed as close to the protagonist is so overtly suspicious from the start that their eventual ‘big reveal’ at the halfway mark feels less like a shock and more like an obvious, almost comical, plot device. Perhaps this was a deliberate misdirection to prime us for even grander, earth-shattering twists later?
Intrigue flickers only occasionally, particularly during Abhirami’s poignant encounter with Kiran’s mother. For the most part, the film repeats a predictable pattern: protagonists follow a lead, are pursued from both sides, and then a minor revelation occurs. The uninspired direction further diminishes the impact, failing to effectively convey the gravity or shock of pivotal events.
Ultimately, Mirage crumbles under the weight of its own ambition. A lack of a cohesive and credible screenplay, coupled with an insatiable need to deliver one shocking twist after another, strips the film of any lasting impression or emotional resonance. It’s a thriller that drowns in its own intricate, yet ultimately hollow, plotting.
Mirage is currently running in cinemas.