After back to back super hits Thani Oruvan` and Bhooloham`, actor Jayam Ravi is on a new high and he has started the year 2016 with Miruthan` which has released last weekend amid huge expectations. The film has been directed by Sakthi Soundara Rajan who has earlier directed Nanayam` a gripping bank robbery thriller and Naaigal Jakkiradhai` which was an entertaining and emotional story surrounding a dog and its affection for its master.

Upon release Miruthan` has lived up to the expectations and it has been lapped up by critics and audience for its gripping script that entertains and engages throughout.

Here we bring five biggest plusses of Miruthan` that has worked in its favour.

Opens up the door for a New Genre

The term Zombie is highly unfamiliar to Indian movie buffs who frequently watch Hollywood and other foreign films. Miruthan` is not only the first Zombie film in Tamil but also the first Indian film falling in that genre.

Taking up a new genre will be hailed as a bold move and it can be immensely helpful in grasping the attention of the audience before release. But if the film does not satisfy the audience it will be detrimental not only to the film but also the genre itself.

Director Sakthi Rajan has however made a chilling impact with his portrayal of the zombies. The film with thousands and thousands of zombies roaming around with the thirst of blood make were effective in making the audience sweat with fear. This can be credited as the success of powerful writing and the optimal usage of makeup and VFX and brilliant team work with the technical pillars of the film that is the cinematographer and Editor. This is going to be the primary reason for the success of the film as well as the continuance of this new genre in Tamil cinema.

The critics as well as young movie buffs in social media are praising Sakthi Rajan for opening the doors for a new genre in Tamil cinema. The filmmaker deserves it.

Sentiment that strikes the right chord

Before the release of the film Jayam Ravi rightly observed that one can introduce new genres in film but ensured that the genre is presented with Indian sensibilities. May be for this reason Miruthan` has a touching sentiment angle in the form of relationship between the hero and his teenaged sister.

The hero is portrayed as the caretaker of his sister and the latter is the purpose of his life. He decides to takes on the Zombies only when his sister gets affected. When his sister herself gets affected by the Zombie virus, what happens between the two has been portrayed in a touching manner.

Thankfully the portrayal of this affection never becomes melodramatic.

Apart from neat writing, equal credit should go for Jayam Ravi and (Baby) Anika the actors who portrayed the characters near perfectly without underperforming or overacting at any instance.

Subtle and Refreshing Love story

Love has been the necessary ingredient of most of the Indian films and Miruthan` is not devoid of that. But the love angle in this film is very subtle and that makes it refreshing. The heroine (Lakshmi Menon) does not know the hero`s love and what it could do for her until the climax of the film. The hero never lets her know of his love to her as she is committed to someone else.

With this refreshing premise, the pre-climax and climax portions where the girl comes to know who loves her truly and how that love saves her life from the zombies make us root for the love and we also expect they should unite. This is the success of any love story narrated on screen and fixing it in a zombie film and bringing out the desired impact deserves special plaudits.

Revolutionary Running time

Until few years back the average running time of a Tamil film would hover around 2 hours and 20 minutes to 2 hours and 40 minutes. The number of films shorter than this duration will be rarity. But in the past couple of years the number of films with duration of two hours or less has considerably increased.

On that lines Miruthan` sets a new standard with a extremely short running time of 106 minutes that is just an hour and 46 minutes. It won`t be an overstatement to say that this is a revolutionary . Not to miss that the film included all necessities of a commercial entertainer within this short running time.

In short the film will take very less of your time and you will come out with a gratifying experience within that limited time

Climax fight

The Climax fight in which the hero singlehandedly takes on thousands of zombies is a high take away. The viewer could not help appreciating the magnificence of the director`s vision, efforts of the entire team to shoot it and give life to the idea on paper and the touching emotional angle to the entire proceedings.

This is one best example of how the actors (including the junior artists), cinematographer, editor, music director, stunt choreographer and the director can work together to bring out a brilliant output