Indrajith - Adventure on breathtaking locations
A Kalaipuli S Thanu film never fails to grab the attention of the audiences and his latest offering 'Indrajith' directed by son Kalaprabhu is an action adventure film starring Gautham Karthick whose star is on the rise in Kollywood. Whether the film sways the audiences remains to be seen.
Centuries ago a celestial metal capable of curing all diseases makes its way from space to earth. In the present an ex professor of archeology, Maiyilvaganam (Sachin Khedekar) with four students to help is trying to locate the magical elixir stone. Enter Indrajith (Gautham Karthick) an easy going young man who is the professor's new neighbour who gets a job as an assistant. The villain Kapil Sharma ( Sudanshu Pandey) the chief of Archeological Survey of India who smells the adventure and devices his own plans. The hero uses his brains to find the exact location of their target which is in deep forests of Arunachal Pradesh and then begins an action adventure on air, under water, amidst wild animals and naxalites.
Gautham Karthick whose star is on the rise in Tamil cinema manages to hold his own in an underwritten role. He reminds his illustrious father in the romance and comedy scenes but goes one up in the action sequences in which he is very convincing. In tune with his 'Hara Hara Mahadevaki' Gautham also gets to see a girl naked and strips for her in return (Is that becoming his signature?) . Even though there are two heroines in the film its Gautham's chemistry with the puppy Happy that is endearing. Ashritha Shetty as Mathi a half Tamil half Arunachal girl appears as a forest expert but has nothing to do to impact the screenplay and inexplicably falls in love with the hero in the end. Ditto with Sonarika Bhadoria who has a couple of scenes as the professor's niece and a song. Sachin Khedekar and Sudhandhu Pandey as the rivals for the stone too suffer from lack of depth in writing though their characters twist in the ending is intersting. M.S.Bhaskar the only known face other than the hero as Jungle Salim tries his level best to evoke a few laughs but fails. Other characters are mere props.
Indrajith's major pluses are the high mountain terrains, towering waterfalls and the dense forests locations that are breathtaking. The aerial shot visuals, the good CG work in juxtaposing animals and birds in the scenario and the aeroplane sequence show a lot of promise in the execution. The action by Stun Siva especially in the jeep chases in the forests and the fights on the run impress.
New comer KP impresses with both songs and background music on debut.On the downside 'Indrajith' suffers from lack of depth to any character which prevent the audience from rooting for any of them. Other than Gautham and Bhaskar the rest of the cast is comprised of relatively unknown actors with a distinct North flavor. Though the map shows that the stone lies in a complicated place the hero stumbling on it by accident robs the thrill and adventure of finding it.
Cinematographer Rasamathi is the backbone of 'Indrajith' capturing the wild terrain and high mountainous water falls in their full splendour. Throughout the film he has maintained colour hues that spell adventure. Kudos!. The art director Jacki deserves special praise for his work right from dressing the archeologist library to the rat infested cave that leads to the stone. Editing by veteran V.T. Vijayan leaves a question whether the film could have been cut in a more racy manner. Kalaprabhu after his youthful 'Sakkara Katti' has shown a lot of promise in conceiving a 'Mackenna's Gold' like adventure and execution but could have concentrated more in the writing that would have made it a more taut watch.
Verdict : Go Go for this action adventure which has some breathtaking locations and gripping moments.
