100 - A never before seen side of cop work
Sam Anton of 'Darling' and 'Enakku Innoru Per Irukku' fame has joined hands with Atharvaa Murali to showcase a never before seen side of police work. Will this hit some miss some screenplay with a few interesting twists hit it with the audience remains to be seen.
Sathya (Atharvaa) is a fiery young man who is aspiring to become a cop and even before he gets his posting unleashes his anger on wrongdoers bashing them up to pulp at every given opportunity. His best friend is Anwar (Mahesh) a cop whose sister Ayesha (Harija) is also like a sister to him. Then there is Nisha (Hansika Motwani) who runs into the hero after he bashes up her brother Vicky (Raaj Ayappa) for stalking Ayesha and a friendship begins. When Sathya gets his job posting he finds out to his dismay that instead of field work he has to sit behind a desk and take calls for 100. Sathya has no interest in his work but then comes a call that changes his life and affects all those around him leading him deep into a network of hideous crimes.
Atharvaa has the body and the body language to convincingly carry the role of a macho cop and needless to add that he excels in the fight scenes. He is also neat in the emotional scenes when conflicts arise with his best friend and getting worked up when the women are put in danger. Radha Ravi as the jaded 100 supervisor has once again given his best while Mime Gopi and Aadukalam Naren also are adequate in their respective roles as a drug dealer and police commissioner. Newcomers Mahesh and Harija as the troubled cop and his sister are apt for their roles while Raaj Ayyappaa impresses with his multi-shaded character. Yogi Babu, as usual, does not disappoint with his comedy which is mostly counters here. The role of the unlikely villain David is the perfect swan song for the late Cheenu Mohan. The less said about the leading lady Hansika the better and she should sure work on her looks which is not complementary to her on screen.
What works best in '100' is the twists which though cliched help in sustaining the interest till the end. The attempt to show the functioning of the police control room known as 100 is like a breath of fresh air in the plethora of cop films that hits you almost every Friday. The action scenes are well choreographed and a few sequences like the abduction in a train and the return of a dead girl are well staged. The reveal of the villains one by one is also well written.
On the downside, the initial buildups of the hero and the romance portions which eat up about a good forty minutes are tiresome and bring down the quality of the film. Some of the twists and turns are contrived and there are logical loopholes. It's a mystery why the main villain in the crucial climax gives up one of the two girls in his custody and then forces the hero to bring her back to him.
It may be the print in the preview but the cinematography by R.D. Rajasekhar seems to be off-color and in a few places there are distortions too. Sam C.S. who has built up his reputation in the recent past is just passable while the editing by Praveen KL does the job to make the screenplay racy. Sam Anton after testing the patience in the initial sequences makes up for it after the story gets into the control room and keeps it engaging until the very end. On the whole, this Auraa Cinema production leaves a lingering feeling that it could have been so much better if the cliches and buildups had been avoided.
Verdict : Go for this new take on cop work with good performances by the cast and some interesting twists and turns
