‘Myna’ fame Vidharth’s ‘Kollaikaran’ had entered this Pongal movie race as the underdog. After watching the movie I would say that it was rightly referred like that. An underdog which failed to engage the audiences and lost its focus from the storyline every now and then and ceremoniously got smashed between the biggies of the festival.

Debutant director Tamilselvan had all the symptoms of an amateur film maker who was nervous and confused and hence ended up with a half-baked story and screenplay to satisfy the ego of a hero who had a similar proven character in ‘Myna’ and commercial elements to fill the vacuum created because of the lack of star power.

Kolliakaran’s story is about ‘Kuruvi’ (Vidharth), who lives along with his sisters in a village. He often involves himself in petty crimes to make ends meet, which is initially unheeded by the villagers and people around him. Later when ‘Kuruvi’ turns into a new leaf for the sake of his lady love ‘Veni’ (Sanjitha Shetty), his past haunts him as a result of the villain (no prices for guessing that the villain is a village big shot) and takes away his loved one’s life. The hero settles the score with a bloody revenge against the villain towards the climax.

Vidharth as Kuruvi was convincing, but I wasn’t able to find much of a difference between this one and his role in ‘Myna’. Both looked very similar especially in the way the dialogs were delivered and his body language. Though he proved himself with a similar ruffian’s role in Myna, using the same to garner critical acclaim in his other ventures is a disappointing tactic.

Sanjitha Shetty as Veni, the village girl with a soft corner for our Kuruvi was easy on the eyes. Though, half-saree clad girls in villages are not a norm these days, her conservative outlook was well etched out with her attitude.

Meenal as Vidharth’s elder sister had done her natural act as always. Her dialog delivery was excellent and had the native accent.

Others in the cast managed to make us yarn and made the proceedings tedious.

Technicalities like camera, editing and music were not up to the mark and hence could be ignored for good.

Verdict: Avoidable