Young actor Arulnithi has been doing
films under different genres. This time he has teamed up with director
Arivazhagan who has given critically acclaimed hit films under 'Eeram'
and 'Vallinam'. It may not be the coincidence that these two films fall
under entirely different genres o f horror and sports drama. The duo had
teamed up for the remake of super hit Malayalam thriller 'Memories'.
Let’s see how they have come out with their first remake thriller.
Aravind (Arulnithi) is an ex-cop who
has lost his wife (Aishwarya Rajesh) and daughter to the wrath of
enemies. He becomes a drunkard and leads an aimless life. In the same
city three different men are murdered. The commonality between these
three murders is that they are married, there corpses are left in a open
space in a way that looks like they are crucified, a few days after
they went missing.
Joint Commissioner of Police
(Radharavi) who is also Aravind's well-wisher wants him to take up the
investigation of these murders and nab the culprit as he feels , this
will breathe fresh air into his reluctant life. Aravind takes up the
case after his mother's (Thulasi) insistence.
Aravind starts investigating and
finds a few other similarities between the three murdered men and the
way they are murdered. The rest his how successfully detects all the
hidden details, connects all the hints, and finds the motive behind the
murders and nabs murderer.
The film starts with a failed
encounter of the hero. Then the film hero's problem and his past are
revealed in non-linear narrative. Simultaneously the murders and police
investigation are shown. Once the protagonist takes up the case, the
film starts gripping the viewer. The scene in which the hero gets the
clue about the murderer's identity with just a look at a crime scene,
brilliantly serves the purpose of establishing that the investigation
has gone into the hands of clever and effective cop and the solution is
not far away.
The interval block sets the tone for
a tight thriller ride as the hero discovers another interesting
connection between the victims. The second half is filled with the
hero's investigation, without any deviation and the entire half keeps us
glued to the screen. There are no logical loopholes and cinematic
liberties. A song comes in between but that does not hamper the
narration. There is only one fight scene that comes in the climax and
you get to see the villain only in the pre-climax.
This way, Arivazhagan as the writer
and director (Story by Jeethu Joseph) has succeeded in giving a thriller
that is highly engaging and also packs some surprises. The emotional
content also makes an impact and never goes melodramatic. The director
should be appreciated for being loyal to the genre by keeping commercial
compromises minimal and the film is predominantly gripping.
Even the first half makes an
interesting watch expect for a few repetitive scenes about the hero’s
memories of his wife and the attempts to make us laugh that do not work
out well
The script also convincingly
portrays how a drunkard is roped in after a long gap into the police
investigation of series of murders. This is done only after answering
the questions raised by media and the Home Secretary. The writer has
resisted taking cinematic liberty at a place where many would easily do
that.
As the hero is shown as a drunkard, it is a praiseworthy idea to place a song against liquor drinking ,using a few couplets from Thirukkural and this has been beautifully ingrained into the narration.
As the hero is shown as a drunkard, it is a praiseworthy idea to place a song against liquor drinking ,using a few couplets from Thirukkural and this has been beautifully ingrained into the narration.
Arulnithi is impeccable in the role
and emotes well. Radharavi as a senior cop gives his best for the role.
Aishwarya Dutta as a young journalist makes a mark with the limited
scope for her character. Charlie, Thulasi,Anupama Kumar and Bose
Venkat are adequate in their respective roles. Robot Shankar as a 'not
so intelligent' cop is used for comedy and manages to raise a few
guffaws here and there. But we could not help feeling that the scenes
allocated for this purpose are a little redundant in a thriller flick
like this.
Aishwarya Rajesh is impressive in
her cameo. Gowraw Narayanan fits the role offered to him but he could
have emoted better in the only scene in which he had to.
Thaman's re-recording is highly
effective in pushing the thrill factor. There are only two songs and
both the songs are likeable. Aravind Singh's cinematography gives us the
feel of being in a Madurai and south Tamil Nadu localities and the
excessive night scenes should have been a challenge. Editing of Rajesh
Kannan is neat in the second half but first have could have been a
little crisper. Dhilip Subburayan’s stunt scene in the climax fits the
requirement.