How does one hunter tell another that they are pregnant? It is not with a shy hand-on-stomach but a matter of fact ‘Get me the liver of the deer. I hear it is good for pregnancy’. Aashiq Abu’s latest film The Rifle Club, streaming on Netflix, is a crazy and stylish 120-minute ride in the Western Ghats, packed with blood, gore and blazing guns.
The multilingual film, with a wide array of characters slipping in and out speaking Malayalam, English and Hindi, has a simple story set in 1991. Dayanand Bhare (Anurag Kashyap), a mob boss in Mangalore, throws a party for his son Bichu (Parimal Shais), who misbehaves with one of the dancers, Nadiya (Navani Devanand). Nadiya’s partner Ali (Ramzan Muhammad) retaliates by hitting him, causing Bichu to fall into a dumpster from a highrise.
Dayanand vows revenge and has Nadiya and Ali followed by his other son Bheera — played by rapper Hanumankind — as they flee to Kannur, hoping to find shelter at Ali’s cousin Shahjahan’s (Vineeth Kumar). Shahjahan is an actor who is going method at a Rifle Club nestled in the greens of the Western Ghats. Once Ali and Nadiya reach the Rifle Club, all hell breaks loose as the members of the club, led by Kuzhiveli Lonappan (Vijayaraghavan) and secretary Avaran (Dileesh Pothan) pick up their guns to protect their space from the gangsters.
While the storyline doesn’t have much heft and you have a fair idea from the beginning how the conflict would pan out, the witty banter among the club members, an extended family of sorts bound by strict codes of honour, along with the entertaining and well-choreographed action sequences keep you riveted. There are quite a few characters but it is never too difficult to remember who is who. Even in two hours, writers Syam Pushkaran, Dileesh Karunakaran and Suhas have been able to make each character somewhat memorable, whether it is the rivalry between Avaran and Godjo or the orneriness of Kuzhiveli. Pothan is especially great as the beleaguered authoritarian figure who is just as competent despite being ribbed constantly.
Anurag Kashyap doesn’t feel very menacing but crazy enough to feel like he is capable of anything. Hanumankind, who took the internet by storm last year with his rap song Big Dawgs, is absolutely great with his crazy stunts and his American accent.
The way Rifle Club treats the story’s women is also heartening; they stand shoulder to shoulder with the men and are held to the same code of honour as the male members are. In fact, it is a woman who is the most accurate shot among the members.
Vani Viswanath as the gun-toting Ittiyanam perfectly embodies the quiet authority without losing any of the femininity. These are women who don’t need to dress like men to be able to do what the men do and sometimes do it better.
The film is carried by some exceptional performances perfectly complemented by Aashiq’s cinematography as he brings to life the lush greens of the Western Ghats, the stylish uniqueness of the club, the slickness of the action sequences and the ’90s atmosphere — the boar ziplining through the forest and the biker zooming through the corridors of the clubhouse are a few of standout sequences. The final showdown when Dayanand comes to avenge his son Bheera’s death is tense but equally funny.
All of this, along with the background score by Rex Vijayan makes for a fun and stylish treat that anyone who doesn’t mind a little bit of gore can enjoy.
