The opening stretch of Patriot, directed by Mahesh Narayanan, wastes no time stitching together the tightly wound ecosystem of India’s political elite.
The system – heavy with Delhi’s suffocating air – introduces a handful of key players, including Mammootty’s Daniel, through brisk, almost impatient cuts. It feels like a conscious departure from the indulgent, star-worshipping style of mainstream Malayalam cinema, where slow reveals and overcooked buildup dominate.
A security expert and trusted advisor to a powerful minister, Dr. Daniel James is less a character and more a walking solution. Need to land a rogue aircraft? Daniel steps in. Need a suave, all-knowing operative? He morphs into a homegrown James Bond. Privilege shields him, allowing him to sidestep protocol in a department where protocol is everything. But the house of cards collapses quickly, and Daniel is branded a traitor.
What follows is a fugitive narrative that unfolds both online and off it. On the run, Daniel attempts to expose a murky surveillance deal through a vlogging platform, targeting a corrupt politician and his son. It’s a premise rooted in real life – privacy, surveillance, dissent – but the film only grazes these ideas. It uses the controversy as a backdrop rather than engaging with it meaningfully, reducing what could have been a sharp political critique into surface-level commentary.
That lack of depth bleeds into the writing. The film jumps restlessly from one issue to another, never settling long enough to build stakes or coherence. Plot holes are plenty, dialogues often veer into the crass, and several moments feel engineered for preachy impact.
Mahesh Narayanan, who also handles editing, assembles an ensemble cast – Mammootty, Mohanlal, Nayanthara, and Fahadh Faasil. Ironically, this star power works against the film. Apart from Mammootty, no one gets a role substantial enough to linger. Most characters exist merely to underline Daniel’s brilliance.
Mohanlal’s extended cameo is particularly disappointing. Clearly inserted to capitalize on the Mammootty–Mohanlal dynamic, the role lacks narrative purpose. Their exchanges, intended to be electric, instead come off as awkward and unintentionally comic. It’s pure fan service.
The biggest letdown, though, is Fahadh Faasil. Cast as a volatile corporate antagonist, he is a man possessed in every scene, resembling a dated, one-dimensional villain. Attempts to humanize him fall flat, especially in the final act where the character’s supposed emotional depth feels unearned. At times, Faasil appears less like a screen presence and more like someone performing on stage.
Clichés run rampant. Darshana Rajendran’s character fits neatly into the doomed romantic archetype.
As the film barrels into its climax, it spirals into chaos. Characters converge, speeches multiply, and Narayanan leans heavily into moralizing. The result is a noisy, overstretched finale that confuses scale with substance. In its structure and tone, Patriot often mirrors the familiar template of Hollywood-style patriotism dramas.
Technically, the film fares better. The music stands out, and the cinematography complements the tone effectively. In the end, Patriot is a film with ambition but little control. It’s clearly weighed down by weak writing and stretched far beyond its narrative limits.
