One has to give a toast to director Suseenthiran for not only pulling off a well crafted thriller, but also he has managed to deliver the same stuff that he delivered a few years back as ‘Naan Mahaan Alla’, relabeled and managed to serve it afresh with his remarkable ability to pen a screenplay that was refreshing and equally engaging!
The plot is set down south as the name of the movie suggests and so not surprisingly we are given a slice of the lives of goons ruling the soil where they dictate terms! On the other hand there is a common man (Vishal) who also happens to be the protagonist for this story, whose life is given a spin by the baddies. The hero wants to take revenge and so does the hero’s father (Bharathiraja). How they manage to succeed in their agenda in having their revenge has been told in a well structured format without exploiting much of cinematic liberties in a typical ‘Suseenthiran’ style.
Though there are a lot of cliches in the movie, be it the southern ethos where the plot is set, a guy falling for the girl at first sight, a corrupt police official, a ferocious villain and some naive sidekicks, we tend to buy these only because of the plot in which they were convincingly woven into. Also the characterization of Vishal in the movie came as a whiff of fresh air as he was not given the license to explode until the climax, whereupon the director manages to convince the audiences that the threshold has been reached and its now time for the timid protagonist to unleash his virile instincts. In short, Suseenthiran creates an illusionary ‘real world’ that was much more convincing than the real world and that spelled the success for the scriptwriter in him.
Vishal, as mentioned before has carefully handpicked this role that was meaningful and believable. Hope he picks a cue from this smart move and rebuilds his career with much better roles.
Lakshmi Menon as the school teacher looked too young for the role and seemed like she was thrust into the uniform of ‘Kaakha Kaakha’ Jothika. Her outfits did not match her at all as she looked over-the-top for the ambiance of the script. My only worry is that she could do much heavier roles that demands a lot of performance rather than sticking to run-of-the-mill roles as this one in order to earn some quick bucks and fame.
Bharathiraja as Vishal’s father was a surprise selection. He brings in the angry old man’s role to the table who is hardly able to do anything at all for the injustice done to him and his family. Somasundaram as Vishal’s brother could have been used in a much better way as he is an actor who has done a memorable role in ‘Aaranya Kaandam’. Vikranth in a cameo was brilliant and made his presence felt as the angry young man. The new villain in tinsel town Sharath Lohitashwa was right on the money from the start till the finish.
Music by Imman was average and no song made an impact, be it a melody or a folk number.
Cinematography and editing were just about ok. Editing was fine for almost the whole movie except for a song in the latter half which was added only because of commercial reasons.
This movie is the dark horse that has emerged as the clear winner among the three Diwali releases (‘All in All Azhaguraja’s’ report seems to be bad) with Sussenthiran’s earthly charm simmering in the screenplay that classifies the movie as a certain ‘worthy watch’ entertainer, as the characters in the movie were much more humane and the script was also equally thrilling!
Verdict: Worth a Watch
Rating: 3 / 5
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