In Jinu Abraham’s Adam Joan, Prithviraj plays the titular role, Adam, a man who goes all out to find and rescue his kidnapped daughter in Scotland. Much like the actor’s Ezra and Memories, religion plays a major role in this crime drama. Adam has to fight off the members of a dangerous cult to save the child, and in the process, he unravels some secrets about his brother and sister-in-law.
The grey misty landscape of Scotland easily lends the film a cold enigmatic look. The story unfolds inside quiet English cottages, and in abandoned castles in the middle of nowhere. The sombreness of the setting is further accentuated by dim lighting used in interior scenes. To an extend, it helps the story-telling. You don’t refuse to believe when the plot shifts to subjects like Satan worship.
The elephant in the room, here, is Prithviraj whose highly contrived theatrical acting makes it hard to take Adam’s plight seriously. He looks great, and has a commanding screen presence. His oeuvre has over 100 films that belong to diverse genres. However, Prithviraj is yet to display an exceptional ability to disappear in a character. Even in intense emotional moments with artistes like Bhavana, who plays his sister-in-law, Prithviraj doesn’t underplay or work in sync. He is full of himself in every frame.
Adam falls in love with Amy (Mishti), a Jewish girl whom he meets at a church wedding ceremony. Their tragic love story pans out clinically, without making any impact on the audience. Amy dies at child birth, and heartbroken Adam refuses to acknowledge the baby. His brother Alan (Rahul Madhav) and his wife Shweta (Bhavana) adopts the baby and brings her up in Scotland while Adam goes back to his plantation business in Kerala. It is after seven years he returns to the UK, when he is informed that the child, Ila, has been kidnapped, and his mother, murdered.
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The long-winded narration betrays the intrigue built up by the milieu. In Memories, Jeethu Joseph’s screenplay effectively carried the emotional turbulence of its protagonist, Sam (Prithviraj), and the thrilling murder investigation hand in hand. Like Sam, Adam Joan is also a grieving man who lost his family. However, the film wavers inconsistently, and culminates somewhere between a mediocre emotional drama and an unsatisfactory crime thriller.
Deepak Dev’s background score is loud and overpowering, and his songs, unimpressive. Jithu Damodar’s cinematography might remind one of a brand commercial. Everything looks pretty and dramatic, yet ordinary. Among the actors, Bhavana delivers an impressive performance. The rest of the cast are largely forgettable.
Adam Joan is yet another ambitious project anchored by Prithviraj that ends up on a disappointing note. It is a cold and aloof film, much like the actor’s performance and the landscape where the film is set in.
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