It is
A film that travels from being very self-conscious to some well directed parts in the end.
Plot
A jigsaw theme for a better looking title sequence and a girl walking into the sea started the digital projection.
A drunken father who comes home to an ill wife and hardly fed kids was what the sequence should have seemed like on paper, but, the visual ended up ill achieved mostly due to the bad dubbing and subtlety gone wrong. The father leaves the house after ransacking it for money and with one final line to the wife "Why don’t you die already?"
The wife decides to end the pain and asks the older son to pass her the small bottle of poison which always comes in handy in scenes such as this (wonder why they have it in the first place).
Mom dies and the two sons are taken care of by their uncle. One goes on to pick up his uncle’s profession (Balaji) as the younger one turns out to be the heroic vagabond (Karthik played by Nani). The uncle’s house also has a girl who in time becomes one of the female leads (Revathi – Nithya Menon). And a friend from the locality (Vishnu – Karthik Kumar) completes the main cast.
What had happened to the father who abandoned his family? Drugs, female drug lords and a love interest with a sex worker fill in for the rest of screenplay with a smooth use of the non-linear narrative.
What sends you out unimpressed?
The first half had its moments of subtle humour, beautiful locales and the right costumes. What it missed out on was the actor’s finishing touch to enhance everything around (when you are trashing somebody, hit them like you mean it).
And even the actors are not to blame completely, the Gautham Menonish voiceovers and a bunch of badly dubbed conversations should be credited.
What sends you out smiling?
You are out for a sip of the cola and you think to yourself while constantly listening to the other reviews around.
"It was a decent try, at least the cinematography was excellent. If only they had a complete package. It’s a beautiful morning to spend some time at the cinemas. Wonder what the second half is like?"
And it did turn out to be a beautiful morning. The second half takes off instantly and keeps hitting the right notes on most occasions. Right note – right note – good enough – right note – a guitar driven action sequence and a bit of family killing drama to end it in a nice freeze frame.
Actors
It was almost like the actors and the writers have been waiting for the second half to start working their magic and all of a sudden you don’t want to find fault with the film.
Nani hadn’t put up a clumsy performance as yet and doesn’t make any such promises too. A Telugu ACTOR at last. Nithya Menon blends right in to the lower middle class environ and never lets you question her.
Has to be best performance of the little known Karthik Kumar and for a change, Bindhu Madhavi is not that bad too.
Verdict
Let the visual treat you for the first half and wait for the screenplay to take over. And one other thing, the film runs for a precise 2 hours.
