The UAE has long had a starring role in Indian cinema. With about 4.3 million Indians calling the Emirates home, perhaps it is no surprise that filmmakers have repeatedly turned to the country as both a setting and a backdrop.From relatable, grounded stories like Vilkkanundu Swapnangal (1980) and Jacobinte Swargarajyam (2016), to larger-scale productions such as Feroz Khan’s Yalgaar (1992) and Pathaan (2023), there is no shortage of Indian films that have used the UAE as either a backdrop or a place to transform into another location in the Gulf. Sukumaran stars Aamir Ali, an ambitious fashion entrepreneur who is drawn into a life of crime after his family is put in jeopardy. Photo: MindscoreShow caption: Sukumaran stars Aamir Ali, an ambitious fashion entrepreneur…Directed by Vysakh, who joins the acclaimed star Prithviraj Sukumaran 15 years after the former’s debut Pokkiri Raja, Malayalam action thriller Khalifa: The Ruler joins the club, with parts of it set in Fujairah and Dubai, and outside an unidentified airport that looks most like the exterior of Sharjah’s terminal.In Khalifa, Sukumaran plays Aamir Ali, an ambitious fashion entrepreneur who is drawn into a life of crime after his family is put in jeopardy.The cast is strong, with Prithviraj particularly impressive, bringing both physicality to the action sequences and emotional depth to Aamir's transformation from ambitious entrepreneur to a man driven by quiet vengeance. His foil is Harris Basheer, played by Neil Nitin Mukesh, an actor who captivates every time the narrative shifts to him. ▶Among the character actors who have incredible screen presences, however, Suresh Oberoi stands tall as Seittuji, a mentor for Aamir. Last seen in the controversial action-drama Animal, Oberoi has a lot more to chew on, even if it just requires him looking sharp and delivering dialogue with the coolest demeanour you can find outside of the film’s protagonist. Bit of a shame then that for all of his fascinating aura, there’s very little you get to know about his character. This isn’t exactly a bad thing for the movie itself; the focus of Khalifa lies squarely on the criminal history of Aamir’s family, which you get to know about slowly as the story progresses in boundless style, both aural and visual. It’s a sprawling old-school crime thriller that makes sure it places all its building blocks as patiently as possible across its 160-minute runtime and makes its archetypal Indian story of an unwitting civilian thrown into crime to save his family a whole lot more fun to watch.The UAE-set sequences are filmed with plenty of bite, with an extended 4x4 and buggy chase recalling the chaotic desert action of Vikram Bhatt’s Awara Paagal Deewana. But thankfully, the film doesn’t rely on its UAE setting alone.Cinematographer Jomon T John makes striking use of dramatic contrasts in light and colour. It’s more a stylistic flourish than the work of Santosh Sivan in Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se…, but there’s an unmistakable enthusiasm behind it.The narrative is bolstered by film editor Chaman Chacko’s tightly wound final cut, with a generous helping of non-linear storytelling designed to keep viewers guessing. This can work, but the number of times the back-and-forth set-up/pay-off structure appears in the final act threatens to harm more than help and could have been done away with. Where the edit falters, Jakes Bejoy’s soundtrack more than makes up for it in its sheer presence. Featuring an eclectic blend of hip-hop, Indian semi-classical and dramatic dark overtones, Bejoy’s work has the kick needed to work perfectly in tandem with the film’s emotionally diverse moments.Khalifa fills the void left by the stylish, larger-than-life Bollywood action thrillers of the 2000s, recalling films such as Anubhav Sinha’s Dus (2005), Sanjay Gadhvi’s Dhoom: 2 (2006) and Abbas-Mustan’s Race (2008).While critical reception around this specific subgenre of movies is all over the place, one thing is clear: they are a lot of fun to watch on the big screen, packing in everything from one-twist-to-rule-them-all to stylish action setpieces in which the protagonist walks to the camera in super slow-mo while vehicles explode behind them.Action thrillers like Khalifa, in which style is substance, desperately need a comeback. With charismatic, dependable leading men like Prithviraj, there’s a lot more fun to be had from a filmmaking perspective.The film is the cinematic equivalent of wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses – flashy, excessive and unapologetically cool. It knows exactly what kind of film it wants to be, and provided audiences do too, it's a great time at the movies.