After the 2014 hit film 'Ennamo Nadakkadhu', young actor Vijay Vasanth, his home banner VVV Records and writer-director Rajapandi have teamed up again to deliver 'Achamindri' which is advertised as a film about Education system. Lets see whether the team will repeat the magic in this outing.
Sakthi (Vijay Vasanth) is a petty thief with a kind heart. He falls in love at first sight with Malar (Shrusti Dange) a youngster caring for the education of poor children.
Simultaneously we are shown an upright Police Inspector Sathya (Samuthirakani), the State Education Minister Karikalan (Radharavi), his wicked Assistant (Jayakumar) and Rajalakshmi (Saranya Ponvannan) the millionaire head of a group of Educational institutions.
A series of acts lead Sathya, Sakthi and Malar on the run to save their lives from a group of criminal masterminds who are involved in a big Education scam.
Do they manage to escape, identify the real culprits and their motives and bring them to book?
Director Rajapandi has attempted to deliver a valid message about Education system in Tamil Nadu through a commercial action entertainer. His intentions and hard work for the research about the perennial problems in functioning of Government schools and the profit minded Private schools are laudable. But one cannot help feeling that the intended message would have made a much better impact had he concentrated more on the main plot and its presentation rather than including commercial elements which aren't so entertaining.
The film starts of with the murder of an upright and courageous IAS officer in Education department setting the tone pretty well for a film on Education system. But after that the director resorts to the so called commercial ingredients besides introducing many characters and sub-plots. The comedy works only in parts. The intro and duet songs just dampen the pace of the narration. There is also a song in the second half when the lead pair is on the run to save their lives.
Apart from the over dependence on commercial elements, the other major problem is the amateurish and illogical way of presenting certain key portions of the film. The minister appearing in a Court immediately after a Lawyer calls for his presence for inquiry, a criminal gangster carelessly keeping a crucial material in his purse only to lose it to a petty thief are only few instances of the logical lapses in the film that could have been easily avoided with a little more care in writing
But these flaws apart,the tension keeps building up and the director succeeds in keeping us guessing and surprises us with a few really genuine twist in the second half. The establishment of the characters with a lot of detailing despite getting redundant beyond a point actually works in favor of the film for this reason. It is the presence of too many characters that makes us guessing who is good and who is bad and offers a few surprises in the second half.
The heart of the film is its message against the profit minded private schools and the corrupt officials in the Government on whose support these institutions thrive. This portion makes the right impact and the main credits for the same should go to the dialogues by G.Radhakrishnan. The final Court room scene which involves a lengthy discussion about Government & Private Schools and the Parents' favoring the latter over the former is one of the highlights of the film. The dialogues in this lengthy scene are sensibly and carefully written, pointing out the mistakes as well as the justification of all the three sides.
Vijay Vasanth fits well into his role and has worked hard in action sequences. Shrusti Dange comes up with yet another decent and earnest portrayal.
Samuthirakan's presence in the film is definitely a plus but seeing him in a character like this certainly gives a feel of deja vu. Vidhya makes a positive impact with her portrayal of a speech impaired girl.
Radharavi who has been constantly coming up with impressive performances in supporting characters this year adds one more to the memorable list. It is a really big relief that Saranya is not mother to anyone in the film and it is not an understatement to say she has given one of path breaking performances in her career with this film.
Devardarshini, Karunas and Shanmugasundaram who are the gang members of Sakthi manage to raise a few guffaws here and there.
Jayakumar and Bharath Reddy fit the bill for their characters while Thalaivasal Vijay leaves his stamp of expertise with his cameo. Rohini gives a dignified performance as a lawyer.
Premji Amaren has done a good job with his pulsating title score and rerecording which is apt in most sequences. But the songs fail to make any impression and just serve as fillers.Cinematographer A.Venkatesh and Editor Praveen K.L have done their jobs neatly.
Stunt Choreography by Ganesh Kumar is praiseworthy. He has taken care to portray the stunt, chase and escape sequences in a convincing manner as much as possible. The lengthy car chase stunt sequence in the second half deserves special mention.
Verdict: Despite flaws, 'Achamindri' can be watched for its message about Education system conveyed with the right impact, the suspenseful narration that keeps us guessing and a genuine twist.
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