Malik

“Kamal Haasan, with his magnetic/flamboyant personality, had played the lead in Nayakan. Is there a leading man more polar-opposite to Haasan, than the Malayalam superstar Fahadh Faasil?  In terms of an inherently low key, unassuming, minimalist screen presence? I don’t think so… There is an inexplicable/X factor between him, the camera, and the audience, that it’s impossible to take your eyes off. And for the most part, he is, as he is. Shorn of fakery, less is infinitely more. His role in Malik is not an exception.”

Rating: 4 stars | Full review

“Plays multiple characters with a dynamic range of emotional maturity, character shades and depth in the same film over various life stages… It takes a chameleon of his calibre to dissolve himself so seamlessly in the world that Narayanan creates and wants Faasil to bring to life. For a world that is so cacophonic and angry as Malik, Fahadh Faasil’s restrained minimalism does wonders to ground Suleiman and humanize him to be the soul of the film.”

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“Everyone gives a masterclass in the art of vanity-free acting. There are no actorly moments and yet, I was very moved by two moments. The first one is when Fahadh Faasil explodes emotionally.”

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“This righteous anti-hero. Forever frozen in Robin Hood mould, Sulaiman continues to be interesting because of Fahadh Faasil’s ability to rapidly switch emotional registers and convey charisma and authority without visible effort.”

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“This graying man who walks with measured steps…  Fahadh and the script give Sulaiman a veneer of niceness that manages to absolve him of the patriarchal mindset reflected in his desire… Sulaiman is not the protagonist of this story, the protagonist is the journey. Fahadh Faasil as Sulaiman aces the moment-to-moment alterations in his demeanour.”

Rating: 4 stars | Full review

“Faasil grows from rebellious boy to headstrong youth to a greying middle-aged man with ease, and except for the stray scene where you can see him acting out, he just disappears into Malik.”

Rating: 3.5 stars | Full review

“The characters in Malik are ‘grey’… Sulaiman, here, is far and away the whitest that Fahadh has ever been; it’s also his weakest performance to date… Fahadh plays Sulaiman purely from the neck up; he’s all beard and weight loss and tired eyes, but there’s not a semblance of earth, of blood, of humanity.”

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“As an elderly man, Fahadh walks with a slight stoop, his smile not quite as open as what we’ll see in the flashback… Despite the wonky wig that he wears in the ‘80s portion, Fahadh is endearing as an eager, young man who wants to bring change to his home. His transformation from a callow youth to a chilling killer… and later a broken old man is entirely convincing.”

Rating: 4 stars | Full review