 Bharath seems to have a special liking for movies with Madurai backdrop. Such movies have gone on to become big hits. No different is Koodal Nagar. The film set in Madurai features Bharath in dual roles.
Debutant director Seenu Ramasamy has laced the movie with the right commercial elements. Seenu Ramasamy has narrated the events in a gripping way with twists and turns. Bharath, in dual roles, has utilised the opportunity well. While one renders a subdued performance, the other goes hammer and tongs.
While the first half progresses on a slow note, the latter half gathers momentum to end with a pulsating climax.
Bhavana and Sandhya play the heroines. The latter, with easy expressions and good body language, walks away with all the honours.
 The movie is about the twin brothers Suriyan and Chandran, both played by Bharath. They come with their mother to Madurai in search of a livelihood, following their father's death. While Chandran goes on to become an attender at a postmortem ward in Madurai Government Hospital, Suriyan ends up with a job in a lending library. Chandran is a happy-go-lucky youngster.
Namasivayam (Mahadevan) is an influential man in the city, who decides to contest the Assembly elections. He wields his influence to win the polls. His daughter Manimekalai (Bhavana) falls in love with Suriyan. Chandran is impressed with a girl next-door, Selvi (Sandhya).
Coming to know about her daughter's affair with Suriyan, Namasivayam bumps off Suriyan. The rest is all about how Chandran takes revenge on the MLA.
Bharath is at ease performing the roles. He emotes, dances well and even tries his hand at comedy. Sandhya is the pick of the cast with a mature performance. Also in the cast are Ilavarasu, Meera Krishnan and Lakshmanan.
Music by Sabesh Murali is good to listen to. MS Prabhu's camera has caught the beauty of Madurai and Thiruparankundram well.
Seenu Ramasamy has tried to balance both commercial and realistic cinema. Had he infused more pace in the first half, Koodal Nagar would have been more interesting.
| 
- 
