‘Disco’ movie review: Stylish treatment fails to paper over the lack of substance in this generic mafia story

A scene from the film Disco.

Everyday is Halloween in the ganglands of Ullas Chemban’s sophomore film Disco. In whatever grim situation they may be caught in, the mafia men in this film somehow find the adequate time and mood to dress up in matching colourful costumes before they carry out the hit. While the opening sequence has one gang dressed up in Santa Claus costumes, another sequence has yet another gang with goat head masks launching an attack on a police van.

Going by how this keeps repeating for the entire length of Disco, its costume designer was probably working overtime. Or, the screenwriter also pitched in, since the film borrows much of its story from typical gangster films and hopes to get away with it using its stylish treatment. Just like Ullas Chemban’s debut work Anchakkallakokkan, Disco too is strong in its technical department, but that is not enough to save a film which banks a little too much on stylistics.

Much of the story plays out in a coastal town, bathed in a riot of colours, that has more of a Latin American flavour than a Keralam feel. The mafia gangs and their acts also look incongruous if imagined from the Keralam context, but some of it seems plausible if you go by the internal logic of the film. The non-linear narrative and the numerous gang members make it tough to keep track initially, but things do fall into place later. The structure of the movie consists of repetitive slow motion scenes of the various gangs, overhead shots of the coastal village, romantic interludes of the various couples and gang wars, all of it interspersed with hip hop music videos.

Although the fight sequences are mostly well-staged, the excessive graphic violence takes away some of the impact. The worst scene is undoubtedly the one in which a character repeatedly kicks and stomps on a pregnant woman’s abdomen. If the purpose of the revulsion-inducing scene was to build up anger against the antagonist, much of that anger ends up getting directed at the writer and the director.

Chemban Vinod Jose, who displayed his flair as a writer in Angamaly Diaries, does not manage to do the same in Disco. He is more effective as an actor in the film, as a gang leader who makes up one big plan after another, without ever tasting success. The film appears to be a mishmash of ideas and treatment from Angamaly Diaries, Thallumala and Bachelor Party. Stretching over 158 minutes, Disco, with its unimaginative writing, makes it hard to sit through until the predictable climax plays out.

In the end, one is left asking why Disco was named so, when the film does not have anything remotely to do with it, other than some of the gang members dancing in a discotheque for a few minutes. Such a film, which seems written on autopilot, is not meant to throw up more questions.

The film is currently running in cinemas.