Street Lights is Megastar Mammootty's first movie for 2018 and also Vishwaroopam 2 cinematographer Shamdat Sainudeen's debut directorial. Produced by Mammootty under the banner Playhouse Motion Pictures, the bilingual thriller is shot in Tamil and Malayalam. Each language has a different set of supporting cast with Mammootty in the lead role.
The plot of the movie is fixated on a diamond necklace stolen by three thieves - Raju, Sachi and Murugan played by Dharmajan Bolgatty, Hareesh Perumana and Stunt Silva respectively. Murugan is the master brain while Raju and Sachi are sidekicks who blindly obey him. The necklace is worth five crores (not known to them) and Raju misplaces it while trying to hide it. Crime Branch Police Officer James (Mammootty) is unofficially investigating the theft. Who will figure out where the necklace is; will it be the thieves or the cop? This is the capsule of the entertaining thriller, laced with fair share of humour.
The film marks Shamdat's debut and is based on an idea he shared with Fawaz Mohamed, the film's writer. Street Lights has been directed decently and has a neat script to support it, but the lack of a 'never-seen-before' element or the presence of an underlying 'already seen' element pushes it afar from the glory it deserves. Had it taken a route less taken with sequences filled with surprises, the flatness could have been shed. Nevertheless, the execution deserves applause as the inclusion and interlacing of every character has been handled neatly.
Sadat Sainudeen cranking the camera has done a good job while a few good tunes by Adarsh Abraham go well with the film.
As a cop with a flashback and in search of something, Mammootty is adequate. Hareesh, Dharmajan, and Soubin lend the comic flavour to the film, and their performances are good as always. Pairing up with Soubin, Lijomol seems tailor-made for the role while Stunt Silva as the antagonist is satisfactory.
Though lacking the 'X'-factor, Street Lights, overall, is a decent film that will pass muster with the common man.