Rifle Club movie review: Aashiq Abu returns all guns blazing in this eclectic, explosive, and entertaining hunt

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In fact, none of the characters in the film are ‘normal.’ Would an ageing woman pack off her grandkids before the showdown and stay back because she is, in her own words, “the best shooter” in the club? Would a grieving father enter a gunfight baring his paunch, wearing nothing but a boxer and a yellow jacket? Would two sister-in-laws entering this not-so-usual family, fight about pumping the bullets into the same attackers, and ask the other to pick a different target? Well, the writing of the Rifle Club ensures that we believe in the eccentricities of each of these characters, and almost root for them, simply because we all love badass people.

Rifle Club, which is essentially a long shootout that accounts for over an hour of this 100-odd minute runtime, is filled with such badass people. But it starts off with a song-and-dance routine in a club that ends with a slap, a kick, and a disturbed dustbin. Due to the framing by Aashiq, you know a certain window would come into play, but how it ends is the clincher. There are similar setups throughout the film where there is also an interesting aside about a romantic hero wanting to learn how to handle a rifle before turning into an action star. Of course, there is a redemptive arc waiting for the hero to realise his capabilities, but it is the final punchline that hits us out of nowhere.

Here’s the Rifle Club Trailer:

In many ways, Rifle Club is a Varathan on steroids, and it helps that the team didn’t rely on someone with a superstar stature to be at the centre of things. With the ‘expectations’ thrown out of the window, each elevation comes with an effective surprise, and every character is as eclectic as they are explosive. Kudos to the actors who understood that Rifle Club is not a film about individual glory, but the collective hurrah. Of course, Dileesh Pothan and Anurag Kashyap get the more pronounced characters, but every single character in the vicinity of these master filmmakers-turned-actors get their moment to shine, and they shine like the blinding light of a flash grenade. There is Vani Vishwanath reminding the world why weapons aren’t defined by the gender but the bravado of the hands that wield it. There is Dileesh’s proclivity for double-meaning one-liners, and my favourite moment of the film is the usage of the ‘vault’ which houses weapons from the time of Tipu Sultan, the British, and a rare collection. The smallest of moments have payoffs that aren’t always gold standard, but are mostly effective.

The film is pegged as a Wild Wild Westerner set in the Western Ghats amidst a club situated deep within the forests where lawlessness isn’t publicised, but it is essentially lawless. This does away with questions of logic and law, and it completely makes us invested in the happenings without thinking of external factors. The stylised treatment of the violence and the pizzazz of the characters courtesy the trippy tunes of Rex Vijayan, and Aashiq Abu’s work behind the camera. The expansive nature of the setting is wonderfully balanced by the close combat gunfire sequences that have the right kind of staging to ensure we are very clued into the blasting splinters of wood from the cabins, shattering glass shards, and the splattering of blood. And what really worked for the Rifle Club is how none of these graphic violence ever steps on to the side of the grotesque. The dialogues keep everything light and airy despite the chaos everywhere.

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Rifle Club is that kind of a film where there are no standout performances, and it is not because the actors weren’t competent enough, but the filmmaker reined it all in. The performances by all actors, except Anurag and Hanumankind, isn’t expected to be showy or flamboyant. If the measured caricaturishness of these actors is a hoot, the subtle nuances of the members of the Rifle Club are equally efficient. The ensemble, featuring the likes of Vani Vishwanath, Darshana Rajendran, Surabhi Lakshmi, Unnimaya Prasad, Suresh Krishna, Vineeth Kumar, Senna Hegde, Vishnu Agasthuya, and Vijayaraghavan, are probably some of the most secure actors in Malayalam cinema today, and allow themselves to be simple pieces in a not-so-elaborate puzzle constructed by Aashiq and Co. And as every piece is put together, and the final frame appears like a violent renaissance painting, it is clear that there are just two rules to this Rifle Club.

1) We do talk about the Rifle Club
2) We have a lot of fun at the Rifle Club

Rifle Club Movie Director: Aashiq Abu
Rifle Club Movie Cast: Dileesh Pothan, Anurag Kashyap, Unnimaya Prasad, Darshana Rajendran, Vijayaraghavan
Rifle Club Movie Rating: 3.5 stars