Cast: Sri Priyanka, Arish Kumar, ‘Vazhakku En’ Muthuraman, E Ramadas, Linga, Seeman, ‘Aandavan Kattalai’ Aravindhan.
Director: Suresh Kamatchi
Do you remember parents and elders asking you to control your bladder while in a swimming pool and use the restroom instead? Well, here’s a movie that sort of glorifies the opposite of what we learnt back then. I understand the heroine did not have a choice, but I’m sure the director at least did and could’ve opted for a better plot, with more depth and meaningful characters. I’m still unable to come to terms with the fact that they quoted Avvaiyaar’s ‘Nallor oruvar ularel avar poruttu ellorukkum peyum mazhai’ and ended the film.
A police team has been assigned the route leading to a famous temple, Ardhanareeswarar, to provide protection for a VIP who will be visiting it. Samanthi (Sri Priyanka) who is constantly targeted by the Inspector (‘Vazhakku En’ Muthuraman) is made to stand alone on the bridge, with strict instructions to not move whatsoever.
The first half of the film defines no character clearly, so you rely upon the second half (which equally disappoints). We don’t know anything about the ‘VIP’ visiting the famous temple, praying at the temple or even leaving the temple. There seems to be something like a bomb planted at the temple under the water, which should’ve gone off at two-o-clock but that part of the story is completely ignored. The temple itself conveniently vanishes half-way through the movie and the entire focus is on Samanthi, and even the film fails to engage anyone.
The film doesn’t seem to follow any semblance of a timeline. Things just keep happening according to the characters’ whims and fancies. One of the good policemen (E Ramadas) promises to take Samanthi to the loo but doesn’t turn up till the end. He comfortably stays in his place assigned for bandobast without paying heed to what he said, clearly taking the girl and the audience for granted. So many unwanted scenes and excessive trickling down of water as a recurring motif which add no value to the narrative. Every time Samanthi is seen to be dealing with an issue on the bridge she’s been posted at, some random commuter has to stop by and ask her if she needs help. For which the actor responds in a fixed manner. No change in tone, action or expression.
Sri Priyanka’s performance was mediocre. Though she was the only reason that made the film slightly watchable, she was quite grating on occasion. There was no necessity for the repeated slow-motion shots of her drinking water from the ‘Sabols’ bottle. It made no difference other than dragging the film’s length. All the other characters were pointless and have clearly been used only to kill time. ‘Vazhakku En’ Muthuraman and Seeman perform well even while occupying lesser screen space. The young girl who plays the niece of Sri Priyanka does a poor job. It was evident that she was being directed while the camera was rolling.
Neither the camera work nor the music helped the film in any way. Most of the footage used was stock footage and even the shots taken by the cinematographer were very badly lit. One could see the harsh light on the faces of the characters inside the police jeep at the beginning of the film. The editing and dialogue department needed to be pulled up, they stretch out a short film and pen weak dialogues for a film touted to be a ‘bold’ attempt.
Recommended
The theatre I went to watch the film in, stopped and restarted it from the beginning because of a slight mishap while screening. While there are so many more women’s issues that the film could’ve covered, it reluctantly sticks on to one aspect and doesn’t do justice to that either. Women face discrimination, sexual harassment, lack of proper sanitation and benefits even in today’s society. It would’ve been great if the film had touched on these topics with equal importance without taking the route it did and without ending on a disgraceful note. If women empowerment was their idea, I don’t understand why the other female characters in the film were not used to help the female-centric story along. With several obvious loopholes comes a film that is nothing near inspiring and does not celebrate women police in any way.
The Miga Miga Avasaram review is a Silverscreen.in original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.