Vathikuchi Review

 The promotion has gone frenzy for "Vathikuchi" over the last few days with dizzy flash mobs and autos zipping across the city with the movie banners and stickers. Murugadoss in association with Fox studios produce this "Share auto" milieu movie and the trailer has already made its impression heavily. Dileepan is the main protagonist and incidentally he is also the brother of "Thuppakki" Director. With Anjali, the bubbly female lead joins Saranya, Jayaprakash, Raja, Jegan and Rajasree to the cast. "Vagaai Sooda Va" fame Ghibran scores the music for this maiden directional venture by Kinslin, who has also taken care of scripting. Well let's board the share auto to see where it takes us!

The Ride:

Director Kinslin takes you on a ride of romance, action, intelligence, sentiment and it proves to be hardly a bumpy ride. Dileepan is "Sakthi" an out and out share auto driver, a normal lad who falls heads over heels on Anjali (Leena), who travels in his share auto every day. With a string of violent scenes the movie eases itself by unveiling the three groups who are seething to murder Sakthi. The director shuttles between the hero's antics to impress his lady love and the groups who plot against him. Often in our bored and daily lives we hear an array of conversations at the tea shop, bus stand and any other hangout; however we hardly have time to notice that.

Taking a page out of a usual share auto driver, what happens when he confronts injustice and how implicitly he deals with it forms the plot. What really makes the ride cozy is the director's proficient narration, he doesn't try hard to bring about revenge and elements that conspire the hero or villains to pit against each other, however he has woven the tale with a flow of events that naturally happen. Sakthi's mettle nature of helping someone in duress is shown without any heroism yet gives us a whiff of next door bold dude. He spares no hair in getting himself ready to face the goons who loots his hard earned money. Next he saves a family in nick of time from a venal gang and all these good natured deeds makes his heart wet with rain.

Out of the three gangs which scheme to take him out, the last one with Jegan needs a little more convincing. The usual funny witted Jegan looks menacing and sinister in his new avatar, getting bored of his tiresome insurance job he joins his insurance buddies to take a greedy and bold step.  Jayaprakash the mercenary goon, Jegan; his insurance chums and Sampath the fraudulent jeweler fit neatly to their roles of antagonists.

Anjali is as usual, no whims, no nonsense and nothing short of what we expect. What happens to a girl from rural background who tries to become ultra-urban, stylish and freaky? Well a wacky costume, broken English and light hearted humor. Costume designer "Rangasamy" of this movie needs a big pat, especially for portraying Anjali as the freaky rural girl wanting to be very modern. Will Sakthi the unfazed driver win his love? Will his gutsy act of helping others put him in jeopardy? Well, take the ride yourself to find out.

Dileepan is a delight to watch; his innocent looks convince you of a hero without any qualms and steadily he raises as Sakthi the smart lad. Stunts by Rajasekar is fresh and suits well to the heat of the action at necessary junctures. Another clear winner is Music which breezes sweetly indeed. "Kuru Kuru" song is sure to be the caller tune of this month, not to leave out the peppy BGM as well. Kinslin's dialogues, screenplay and of course direction is new in Tamil Cinema and he joins the list of rookie directors who stampede with intelligent film making. The nail biting sequence where Sakthi successfully spoils a murder attempt alone is enough to mention his crude ability.

However some of the bloodshed and violence scenes get a little excessive, letting out sighs and aahhhs around. Anjali's character though is sugary; it's a reminiscent of so many of her characters in the past and leaves you with a sense of wanting variation. The screenplay is racy and does not make you yawn; still considering the plot unveiled well before, length could have been a little shorter.

Verdict : Economic ride jarred by minor speedbrakers, yet reaches the destination on time!