Madhu Kaithapram's Madhya Venal is set in a blistering midsummer with the sun blazing down obstinately on the hard baked earth. With the temperatures rising phenomenally with each passing day, it scorches down every remnant of life left, burning down green into grey and dreams into dust.

There is news for Comrade Kumaran (Manoj K Jayan) on a sweltering day, when he turns into a stunned onlooker all on a sudden, as a political ideology that had defined his very being, turns more acquiescent to accommodate materialism into its fold, pushing him out in the process. Devastated, he returns home to his wife, Sarojini (Shwetha Menon), who simply refuses to give up. Oblivious to the plight of her parents, or the shifting cultural and political scenario around her, Manuja (Nivedha) tolerantly waits for the clouds and the rains.

This is a new age story that is gritty enough to make no negotiations when it comes to staring at the truth in the eye. The reckless daughter who returns back home throwing up her arms in repentance has disappeared behind the curtains. There is simply no possibility for atonement here, since there are no regrets. All you would find is dissent welling up in the young girl's intolerant eyes, when she painfully explains for one last time, as to why there isn't a harm any more in making compromises for grabbing what you badly need. Left with no further options, the appalled mother listens. As the distress finally gives way to a sense of acceptance, she decides to breathe in a new life into her own soul and update her armory. To get across these dog days, she needs to replenish her cells, go all out and give it one last go.

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I strongly believe that Pramukhan refers to some goon (Sajith Raj) who heads the sand mafia in Perumbavoor. When Sub-Inspector Tomy Sebastian (Kalabhavan Mani), with a crime-cleanser reputation sets out to pull up the racket by its roots, the clan bucks up its boots and gets ready for an aggressive conflict.

There are levels of tolerable silliness in action films, but I'm afraid Pramukhan too often dips deep below the line. Most of the dialogues are downright banal, and the whole affair is pretty dumb, even by the absurd standards of such flicks.

If ever there was a story narration, it would have mostly comprised of somersaults and flying kicks, broken bones and bleeding noses. There is so much at stake here, when it comes to those action sequences. Which brings us to the saddest part. Most of the fight scenes are as vicious as they can possibly be and eminently choreographed as well. But the dullness that enwraps itself around every punch on the face just can't be wiped away.

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There are two ways to go about slicing up a film like Malayali. You could be besieged by the corny puree that it offers and sit back resignedly, nodding your head in agreement every now and then. Or you could take up a scalpel and carve out the emotional drivel and take a good look at what lies beneath. I prefer to do it the latter way.

Kalabhavan Mani gets to play Madhavan in the film, who has freshly slid out of the Xerox machine. An exact copy of the passé hero who suffers from EBS (Elder Brother Syndrome), Madhavan is the gullible man who is wronged by all whom he dearly loves, until there aren't any wrongs left on earth.

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