28 March,2025 07:21 AM IST | Mumbai | Mohar Basu
Mohanlal (L) and Prithviraj Sukumaran in the film
I deeply admire an artiste with a spine. In 2025, it has become fashionable to say films are primarily meant to entertain. "It's a business and thus making money is a priority," we've heard filmmakers and producers ramble on, on podcasts. Sure, it is all of that but what about the artistic value of a film? Commerce has taken precedence over cinema. But every now and then, a mainstream film comes along and reminds you that it is possible to entertain without featuring questionable politics. From the onset, it was evident that L2: Empuraan, the sequel to Lucifer (2019), is not a mellow film.
There's a classic question that's asked for sequels. Is it as good as the original? In this case, I'd say, just about. Prithviraj Sukumaran returns to the director's chair to take the reins of the story that has found newer audiences everyday since it was released. Because of the OTT boom during the lockdown, the love for the original film has only grown. One can imagine why the toughest bit of the second part would have been its writing. How do you carry forward the essence of Lucifer, live up to the expectations of people given its success, and make a quintessential âpan-India film'. Even though the makers win some and lose some, they put up a commendable effort to do it all.
Sukumaran and his writers attempt to whip up the story of what makes the villain who he is. The story starts with the 2002 Gujarat riots. Gajendra Patel's gang (Abhimanyu Singh) unleashes violence on Muslim families, sparing neither women nor children. The brutality is deeply unsettling - pregnant women raped, young children murdered. It's a spine-chilling sequence that is integral to how the story shapes up. Zayed Masood (Karthikeya Dev) survives the ordeal and is rescued and mentored by Stephen, who introduces himself as Qureshi Abraham. The story starts five years after the happenings of the first part. Kingmaker Stephen Nedempully, aka Lucifer (Mohanlal) has left God's own country, giving over the reins and political responsibilities to Jathin (Tovino Thomas), who is the state's CM.
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But it is tumultuous within the Indian Union Front (IUF) as the members grow disgruntled with Jathin. He has strayed from the ideals of his late father, PK Ramdas (Sachin Khedekar). When Jathin stages a rally and announces his resignation, people are stunned. Forming a new party, IUFPKR, and joining forces with ASM (Akhand Shakti Morcha), led by Gajendra Patel, he sells his soul to the Devil. They attack Stephen's Nedumpally constituency with a move that threatens to disrupt the lives of common people. There is a line about Stephen that sums up the core of this film: "When the son of God himself succumbs to sin, who else is there to rely upon but the Devil?"
The beauty of Empuraan is that it is unlike any other pan-Indian action spectacle. Neither Sukumaran nor his writer Murali Gopy are overcome with the need to dedicate chunks of the runtime to glorifying their hero with gravity-defying stunts. Empuraan stays rooted to the ground, it focuses on telling us about the people that other mainstream films won't touch with a bargepole. This isn't all swagger, flashy dialogues or an empty spectacle. The film even shifts gears to explore Qureshi's global nexus and nemesis and Sukumaran handles scale with flair. But as the story moves, the drama dwindles and the writing loses steam. It's also a calculated move to delay the hero's entry to allow the anticipation in the audience to surge.
Mohanlal is pitch perfect, almost ironing out the many problems of the film. The second half loses pace. Its climax is underwhelming despite the visually striking frames. I guess, Empuraan lacks the punch and novelty that made the first a phenomenon. The feeling that something is missing is hard to shake off, and nothing, including the cool sets, brilliant VFX, and great direction, makes up for that. But then, there's a magic in the storytelling that salvages a whole lot.
