“He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what’s his reason? I am a Jew.” “By my soul I swear There is no power in the tongue of man To alter me.”– Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare

“If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”. – (Act III, scene I)

If you ever read Merchant of Venice, you can’t help admiring Shylock, that majestic Jew, whose words, or shall we say ‘punch lines’ pierce you to the core… and you accept a grudging admiration to a character and a people so wronged by history, even when you know at the core of your heart, that well, something’s ‘rotten’ about the laser focus on revenge that Shylock nurtures.

But it is the film that impressed me to see Mamootty’s magic was a treat to the soul. He plays the goonda, that feudal side kick devoted to serve his master at any cost pretty well, entire film therefore is a carnage of littered bodies, broken noses, flying pieces of tree trunks!, furniture and some peculiar looking weaponry, but overall Shylock is a good watch.