Wanting to watch Lucifer again, a fourth and a fifth time when streamed on a TV channel, after I had watched it in the theater on day 2 of its release, and later on streaming platforms says, I like the film. Not in its entirety but in parts.
That scene when Priya Ramdas (Manju Warrier) confronts her current husband Bobby (Vivek Oberoi) after her daughter Jhanvi (Sanya Eyyappan) confessed to her about the misdeeds of her step father, that he has been initiating her into drugs, and asking for sexual favours she hasn’t given into. Priya on her part is shocked. Initially she thinks Jhanvi is lying to cover up her addiction, but the daughter and mother find a middle ground, and the floodgates of woes opened. In the next scene, we see a Priya teeming with rage waiting in her chair rocking, to lash out at Bobby.
But, her anger fizzles out into stunned disbelief when Bobby accepts, then warns, and later threatens her. It is one of those chill down our spines kind of reply. It washed away all her years of trust in him.
In the beginning of the film, she is seen relieved that her teenage difficult daughter talked to him even when she wasn’t on talking terms with her. At the hospital, after Jhanvi opens up to her about her life inside the house, Priya still hopes that her daughter is making up stories about her stepfather, but the reply ends all of it. At the end of it, she sees Booby for the villain he is, the reasons why he had married her, and as the long time planner who murdered her first husband and father in the name of power.
Lucifer as a narrative from the beginning is moving towards a final standoff between an arrogant Bobby who thinks the state is at his feet after the death of his Chief Minister father-in-law, and Stephan (Mohanlal) who he thinks is a mere politician from a constituency he can pacify, smear and put behind bars.
The rest of the film lines up the reasons for Stephan to kill Bobby without an inkling of guilt. As the credits roll, the narrative settles comfortably into the dynastic leadership, with the elder brother keeping a watch over his younger siblings, the sister turning advisor to her younger brother, the newly appointed chief minister.
We can’t blame Bobby for thinking it was his idea to bring his brother-in-law, Jatin Ramdas (Tovino Thomas) into this political milieu as a puppet to dance according to his tunes. He had to be a little more aware, listen to the gossips and conspiracies put forth on social platforms by the character played by Indrajith. He would have known. To the audience, there was always a bigger role for Lal in the film other than the politician he was playing throughout. The ending may not have come as a surprise to any especially if they had taken the prologue seriously.
The film on its parts throws up the question as to who is the bigger and lesser evil, it up to the audience to discern.
Enough has been written about the film since it was conceived, made and released. You can except more moments like these if I happen to watch it again.
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