Director Suseenthiran's forte is conveying a relevant social message through realistic story telling within the commercial format delivering memorable films like 'Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu', 'Naan Mahaan Alla', 'Azhagarswamyin Kuthirai' and 'Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer'. His latest offering attempts to once again tell the story of friendship in a time of adversity that has a definite and taxing hangover of his most recent films.
Kumar (Sundeep Kishan) is a somewhat timid young man who after losing his father to a negligent operation takes care of his mother (Tulasi) and medical student sister Anu (Sathiga) by running a catering outfit. His best friend is Mahesh (Vikranth) who likes talking with his fists and the comedy duo Soori and Appukutty. Mahesh and Anu are secretly in love and they hide it from Kumar as it would spoil their friendship. Durai Paandi (Harish Uttaman) is an assassin whose modus operandi is to double cross his clients and earn double the money for his kills. Ensuing circumstances seemingly make Mahesh the target of Durai Paandi but however there is a twist there and whether the good guys and their dear ones survive against the powerful and ruthless enemy forms the rest of the screenplay.
Sundeep Kishan is a talented actor who gets easily under the skin of the boy next door character. He is not heroic in the conventional sense but can put his special skill to good use when the situation demands. Vikranth in a familiar friend character delivers the goods with a neat performance. Among the heroines it is Sathiga as the sister who has more screen time and has not wasted the opportunity to get noticed. Mehreen’s role as Sundeep’s pair is forced into the screenplay and she has not been given enough room to make any impression whatsoever. Harish Uttaman as the bearded, ruthless hired killer with his own agenda is spot on with his performance yet again. Soori and Appukutty just go through the motions as the friends and sadly are unable to evoke much laughter not particularly their fault though. The rest of the cast are mechanical.
The scenes where the killers follow the unsuspecting ordinary men and women for several days and tape their movements easily on the cell phone to plan for their murders is truly terrifying. The fight sequences by Anbariv is very realistic.
On the downside the screenplay is set on a very familiar template and lacks any fresh character except that of Harish Uttaman to infuse much interest. Most of the scenes are contrived and the story does not move forward at all from the very beginning and the only twist that makes some impact is when it is revealed who the real target of the killers is but then even that is very far fetched.
D.Imman's songs have a familiar ring to them and one gets the impression that he would have probably taken only about two minutes for the re-recording as one theme has been played on and on with not even a variation in sound. Cinematography is so so and veteran Mu.Kasi Viswanathan could have done much better with the editing to at least avoid repeating information in many scenes that force the audiences to yawn big time. Suseenthiran is credited with the story, screenplay and direction and overall this one is a big disappointment considering his body of work in the initial stages of his career.
Verdict : Go for it for Suseenthiran's friendship, family ties and thriller elements
