Shylock (2020 film)

Shylock is a 2020 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film directed by Ajay Vasudev. The film stars Mammootty in the title role and Rajkiran (in his Malayalam debut). Shylock is a slang term for a loan shark. The film is written by debutants Aneesh Hameed and Bibin Mohan and was released on 23 January 2020.

Plot
Boss alias Shylock is a ruthless moneylender who provides money to a film producer Prathapa Varma to produce a film, but Varma cheats Boss by not repaying the money, which enrages him. Varma is a close friend of a corrupt Police Commissioner Felix John. Boss creates a ruckus on Prathapa Varma's film sets and abduct the film director, due to which Varma sends men to kill Boss. Boss defeats everyone, including Felix's son Joel and mocks Varma and Felix. Felix charges a fake case that Varma's son Adithya Varma has gone missing and Boss is the kidnapper. The police arrests Boss but a piece of video evidence proves that Adithyan is celebrating Holi in Nagpur with Felix's daughter Jewel.

Felix is forced to release Boss. On the way home, Varma confronts Boss and demands to know the whereabouts of Adithyan. Boss reveals that after the video was telecasted, he kidnapped and killed Adithyan by using Varma's car claiming it as an accident. During Adityan's funeral, Felix and Varma suspect that Boss was part of a plot that they did before, as Boss told Varma a dialogue which Felix told someone before. Boss confirms this. His driver Ganapathi and associate Balakrishna Panicker asks him, but Boss doesn't respond and receives a call which leads Boss going to his house where an old man named Ayyanar wakes up. His associates question him once again. Boss reveals that Ayyanar is his brother and narrates his past: 3 years ago: Boss used to live with his rich family. Boss's adopted brother Velumurugan is in love with a woman named Poonkuzhali. Poonkuzhali's family declined their relationship due to caste differences. Boss and Ayyanar fights Poonkuzhali's elder brother Rangan and his henchman and convinces Poonkuzhali to marry Boss's cousin. Rangan is angered by this and teams up with Felix and Prathapa Varma to get revenge on Boss and his family. Boss has to go to Chennai for a few days. During this time, a producer asks Ayyanar for money. Ayyanar agrees, but on the condition that Boss, who aspires to be an actor should act in the movie. Rangan, Rangan's brother, Felix, Varma and their henchmen arrive at Ayyanar's house and kill the producer and tries to kill Ayyanar. But Ayyanar fights their henchmen.

Rangan kills Ayyanar's wife, Lakshmi. In revenge, Ayyanar kills Rangan. Rangan's brother realizes that Felix and his men were cheating him and Rangan and thus he gets killed by Felix. Adithyan and his henchman kill all the family members except Ayyanar who is stabbed by Felix. Assuming him to be dead, Felix and Varma leave. Boss returns that night, only to find his family members dead. He finds that Ayyanar is still alive and takes him to a hospital. The doctor says that after a surgery Ayyanar will be crippled for life.

Present: Felix and Varma also learn about Boss's past. Boss kidnaps Varma's and Felix's friend Chacko and Joel. They find Chacko heavily drunk and strapped to a chair and Joel murdered. Chacko provokes Felix by telling that Boss will kill everyone and they can't do anything. Enraged, Felix kills Chacko. Boss calls him and challenges Varma and Felix for a final confrontation in his old house. They both agree to the challenge and reaches the venue where Boss overpowers their henchman and subdues Felix. Ayyanar stabs Felix to death while Boss kills Varma. With no one else to trouble him, Boss takes care of Ayyanar continuing his business as Shylock along with Balakrishna Panicker and Ganapathi.

Cast

 * Mammootty as Boss (Shylock)/Devan
 * Rajkiran as Ayyanar
 * Meena as Lakshmi Ayyanar
 * Siddique as Commissioner Felix John IPS
 * Kalabhavan Shajon as Prathapa Varma
 * Baiju Santhosh as Balakrishna Panicker
 * Hareesh Kanaran as Ganapathi
 * Bibin George as Velmurugan
 * Arjun Nandhakumar as Ram
 * Ameenul Irfan as Raheem
 * Arthana Binu as Poonkuzhali Velmurugan
 * John Vijay as Rangan
 * Ajai Vasudev as Thotta Raja
 * Rafi as Chacko
 * John Kaippallil as Adithya Varma
 * Vinu Chemmalakuzhy as Joel Felix
 * Jaise Jose as Isaac
 * Udayakrishna as himself
 * P.R.Rajasekharan as Builder
 * Ambika Mohan as Meenakshi Ammal
 * Prasanth Alexander as Broker Kumar
 * G. Marimuthu as Chithappa
 * Rajalakshmi as Chinnamma
 * Jayaprakash as Doctor
 * Hareesh Peradi as Menon (Cameo)
 * Santhosh Keezhattoor as Cinema Secretary
 * Jewel as Tejal
 * Jai Vishnu as News Reporter
 * Binu Adimali as Saji, production controller
 * Laya as Felix John's wife
 * Joel Jo George as Chitappa's son
 * Ramya Krishnan as Neelambari (archive footage in "Kanne Kanne Veesathe")

Production
Principal photography of the film began on 9 August 2019. Mammootty joined the sets a week after the shoot started.

The film marks the debut of actor Rajkiran in the Malayalam film. Raj Kiran and Meena who had earlier worked in Pasamulla Pandiyare (1997) is acting together after 23 years. Actor Bibin George was chosen for an important role.

The art direction of the film was done by Girish Menon.

Release
The film was scheduled for release on 23 January 2020 along with a Tamil dubbed version named Kuberan.

Later, the film was dubbed in Telugu, Hindi and Kannada and released with the same title. The film's Tamil version along with a Telugu dub released as Kuberan on the Aha streaming platform.

Music
The film's music is composed by Gopi Sundar. The soundtrack was launched on 18 January 2020.

Box office
The film received mixed reviews, but was commercial success, and collected inr 120000000 in its first weekend. The film collected inr 220000000 within 5 days of its release.It completed 400 special shows in 4 days and first ever 4000 housefull shows in mollywood. Shylock may earn up to inr 50000000 in India on its first day. The film has collected inr 90000000 worldwide, inr 30000000 overseas on its first day. The film earned inr 35000000 in the Kerala state. The film was opened well on the first day and got an immense occupancy at Cochin, Thiruvananthapuram. Critics claimed that the first half is purely fans stuff and also complained about the routine story but still, Mammotty fans are enjoying the film as the film is entertaining. Kerala Box Office Collection is inr 397100000, Overseas Box Office Collection inr 275300000, Rest Of India Box Office Collection inr 69000000 and Tamil dubbed version(2020) Gross inr 29300000 The film collected over inr 701700000 at the Worldwide box office against a budget of inr 120000000, and is among the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.

Critical response
Shylock received mixed reviews from critics.

Sajin Shrijith of The New Indian Express gave 3.5 out of 5 stars stating "Shylock is an exuberant celebration of Mammootty, the star, that attempts to milk his charisma to the fullest". Anjana George of The Times of India gave 3 out of 5 stars stating "For the fans of 'mega star Mammootty', Shylock is a treat and for the followers of actor Mammootty, this is a complete 'no'."

Cris from The News Minute rated 3.5 out of 5 and wrote: "Yet another Mammootty 'mass' movie that numbs the mind. It is running out of boring descriptions for itself". Manoj Kumar R. of The Indian Express rated 1 out of 5 star and said: "You know this story. You know how things would pan out. And you know what happens to the bad guys even before the film arrives at its depressingly predictable climax".

Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost rated 0.25 out of 5 stars and wrote that "To compensate perhaps for the absolute lack of novelty in the script, camerawork and all else here, multiple references are made to other films and their Tamil superstars.