2008 - A man is being released from a jail, he comes out - CUT - Its raining outside - CUT - He had not even crossed the prison premises, a man comes and kills this bloke. He falls down - CUT - 1980 - Subramaniyapuram - Kanja karuppu walks down the street. The story starts...
Isn't that a fantastic opening scene?
Jai, Sasikumar (Director), Kanja Karuppu and two other are thick friends. The story revolves these three leads with other two being supporting roles. Jai, Sasi and Kanja Karuppu are unemployed youngsters who involve themselves in fights, then paying frequent visits to the Subramaniyapuram police station. They are being helped by Samuthrakani whose elder brother is an ex-Councilor. So there comes a natural bonding between Samuthrakani and these three youngsters. Conucilor is being taken away from the post by a member in the opposite party. This puts Samuthrakani under mental agony. He shares this pain with this trio. Trio decides to kill the opposite party member believing that Samuthrakani will help them come out of jail on bail. Jai and Sasi are imprisoned. But Samuthrakani doesn't take any step to release the duo. They make friendship with another accused in the same jail who helps Jai and Sasi to come out on bail. The act of revenge starts... Thus the racy screen play starts... Swetha, daughter of the the councilor, falls in love with Jai... After an hour and 15 minutes, the story switches back to 2008, the person who was killed in Jail premises is taken to the hospital and is being given treatment... After a minute, the story goes back to 1980 and continues with the rest and comes back to 2008 at the end...
The script may sound run-of-the-mill. But director has presented it with so many twists (which were not at all predictable) which make you bite your nail at times.
All the characters have been portrayed well, especially the handicapped friend of Jai. There is no one in the movie who irritates the audience by overacting. Female lead has very less scope to act, but has done her part well. Jai has done this role with ease. Remarkable perfomance. Director Sasi goes one step further in acting.
Since the story is about the happenings in 1980, the director has been very careful that no mark of latest happenings is seen on the screen. No latest cars, no computers, no latest movie posters are seen in 80's episode of the movie. Hats off to the director.
Music director James has also proven his ability in delivering the best BGM he can for the movie, but falters at times where the re-recording becomes too sonorous. James must avoid this in his future ventures.
The best scene in the movie is, when Jai is being chased by Samuthrakani gang he runs off to escape and finally gets inside a house where a lady and a baby live. The moment the lady sees him inside the house, she scolds him and asks him to go out. Scared Jai falls on her feet and begs her to save his life. Fantastic performance by Jai in this particular scene.
Flawless movies cannot be made. So I tried my best not to find faults. There were few flaws. But I am not going to meintion those here as the stunning climax makes me forget those flaws. Most of the reviews say that too much of violence is a minus point in this movie. But I disagree with that. This kind of movies need violence and rustic screenplay. This is inevitable.
If you watch it in theatre, when someone calls you in the interval to ask your review, you would say "Hmmm... somewhat going... First half is OK". in the mid of the second half you would say "Second half is very racy. Better than first half.". When you come out of theatre you would say "The last 15 minutes elevated the whole movie to a greater level. Just couldn't believe why he did so. Have to watch it again"
Overall, the movie is worth watching many times.
Star rating: 4 stars.
