Following the footsteps of his son Dulquer, Mammootty’s Street lights is a bilingual shot simultaneously in Tamil and Malayalam as Dulquer did with his last release Solo. Street Lights is a general crime thriller about a bunch of street rowdies trying to accomplish a crime and Mammootty as a hard guy police inspector is trying to stop them. The core plot of the film is extremely routine for a south Indian film and which is why Mammooty thought that this film will serve in Tamil Nadu as well because Malayalam films are usually novel and experimental in nature.
Screenplay of the film is nothing out of the ordinary though the way film is shot is raw and brutal with interesting camera angles though it is hardly applaud-able since action in the film is so stereotypical. Fawaz Mohamed’s poor writing can not save Mammootty’s dying career as he should simply make way for Dulquer to grow and invest in his stardom as he provides extremely interesting themes in his films. Mammootty’s performance literally has no substance in it as he has hardly delivered a powerful scene in the entire film.
Street Lights is a dialogue heavy film and many punchlines are intended to evoke a physical reaction in the name of whistles and applause from the audience but it is hardly the case because most of the film is dead on arrival. The main antagonist of the film is editing because the film does not seem to pick up the pace of the subject it is dealing with. There are constant action scenes in the film with bullets being fired unflappably but it could hardly generate the adrenaline and thrill which is required to put the audience on the edge of their seats. Film is quite ambitious for Mammootty which is why he hired 2 different star cast for Tamil and Malayalam versions but it is a failed to attempt to resurrect a superstar of the older days.
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