Natty or Natarajan raised a few eyebrows in Sathuranga Vettai, for that surprisingly unknown yet solid character which hit us hard. The trailers and promos had us thinking if Bongu is drawn on the same lines, and to an extent it is and continues to keep the screenplay ticking until when it tries really hard to bring the twists, comic elements and loses sheen. With an ensemble cast, the director tries to bring an “Ocean Eleven” and “Gone in 60 seconds” like atmosphere with a team of crooks, a motive and their plan to pull off a heist, kudos for the thought process even though the execution could have been better.
Deva (Natty), Janani (Ruhi Singh) and Bhaskar (Arjunan), the trio are salespersons who are duped during the sale of a car, not just A CAR, it’s THE CAR… Yes, Rolls Royce Ghost. And as fate would have it, they are pinned and jailed for the crime which they did not commit, that is stealing the car. The screenplay over these scenes just rush around so that the director wants to get to the cream of the story on what happens next. As one would have predicted, they are unable to find jobs after being blacklisted, go deep into finding new friends Babu (Rajan) and eventually start becoming car thieves.
The plot appears decent, a bunch of wannabe car thieves, finally when they head out to do pull the biggest heist of their lives find out the real truth behind their blacklisting, do they get even? How do they counter react, all that in a nutshell looks like a promising screenplay in making. The problem comes when the director turns to go comical, which appears to have inserted into many scenes with a sense of rush rather than falling in line with the story itself. The screenplay starts suffering when strong and bold characters like Atul Kulkarni are not given solid characterization and appear under-utilized.
Natty is his usual self, with a tag of “Rare Piece”, he certainly fits in the role with ease. Traces of Sathuranga Vettai are all over the movie. The all familiar heist and tricks, some hard hitting social dialogues (even if they appear unnecessary), he leads the gang comfortably with his unnerving attitude. As again, we expect the film to take off after the gang vow to take revenge, Natty single handedly steers these scenes ahead. Ruhi Singh is a delight to watch, her homework to lip sync surely has paved off, and fits in the gang quite comfortably. Arjunan is as again used well to suit the plot, Ramdoss too manages to get the comedy track right sometimes. Sarath is the stereotypical baddie as in any Tamil Villain, and as again, Atul Kulkarni has been wasted. Cinematography is spot on, Srikanth Deva’s music is just ok.
The movie loses its sheen when the director instead of spending time on how the plan and execution of the heist works, rather goes way too overboard on the aftermath of the heist to keep the mass factor satisfied. He doesn’t give in too much details of the PLAN, which always is the interesting catch when it comes to planning a coup and sadly this gives away the screenplay to fall flat.
Verdict: Bongu could have been a great heist thriller if attention to detail had been covered comprehensively.
