Kannai Nambathey - An interesting premise marred by contrived twists
Four years in the making, 'Kannai Nambathey' is the first film of Udhayanidhi Stalin to release after him becoming a minister and also announcing his retirement. Whether this overlong thriller marred by contrived twists succeed in appealing to hardcore Udhay fans remains to be seen.
The film opens with an unhinged teenage girl murdering her mother for showing love towards an orphan girl in the orphanage that she runs. Cut to the present Arun (Udayanidhi Stalin) is thrown out of the house where he lives because he falls in love with the owner's daughter Divya (Aathmika). He manages to rent an apartment on a sharing basis that already has Somu (Prasanna) an IT worker. and finally finds a rented house. That night the friendly Somu suggests that they have a drink at a bar and also invite Arun's close friend Jagan (Sathish). While at the bar, Arun, being a teetotaler, goes out to update his girlfriend Divya when he witnesses a car accident. He is startled to find a middle aged woman (Bhumika Chawla) in a dazed condition at the wheels. The woman requests Arun to drop her at her home a few kilometers away and there she thanks him and asks him to take the car back and bring it to her in the morning. Back at the apartment Arun explains to Somu what happened and goes to sleep. Somu without the knowledge of Arun drives the car to the woman's apartment and in an attempt to molest her kills her. He then panics and drives back home. The next morning Arun finds the dead body of the woman in her own car trunk and what follows is a string of accidents and murders with many twists and turns. Can the protagonist escape the web of deceit or not and what is the connection between the murderer in the first scene and the current story is what 'Kannai Nambathey' is all about.
Udhayanidhi as Arun has delivered a measured performance and is very believable as the ordinary man caught in a string of extraordinary situations. Prasanna as the roommate with a ruthless streak who leads the hero into one trouble after the other is aptly cast. The 'Roja Koottam' on screen pair Srikanth and Bhumika Chawla appear in intriguing roles that give another dimension to the screenplay. Vasundara Kashyap also impresses in a negative role while Aathmika appears as the usual love interest of the hero. Marimuthu, Sendrayan, Pazha Karupaiya and Sathish are also in the cast.
What works best in 'Kannai Nambathey' is the first half hour that sets up an intriguing premise and characters that are interesting. Especially the sequences that show most of the characters in grey shades helps in engaging the audiences. What the main villains are upto is no doubt shocking but unfortunately a similar issue was dealt in Samantha's 'Yashoda'.
On the downside the logical loopholes are so gaping that the audience's attention is lost after the initial interest. The manner in which Udhay and Prasanna go about disposing bodies and handling guns etc lack believability. Some scenes give rise to unintentional comedy like Prasanna earnestly searching newspapers for crime reporting in this digital age and the monologue epositions by the villains in the climax.
Sidhu Kumar's background music adds the necessary excitement to the screenplay while Jalandhar Vasan's camera captures the action mostly happening in the night time effectively. Mu Maran who scored big with his debut thriller 'Iravukku Aayiram Kangal' has this time tried to play safe by stringing together cliches when unfolding his rather ordinary screenplay. Lipi Cine Crafts has bankrolled the project distributed by Red Giant Movies.
Verdict : Go for it if you fancy thrillers that contain twists galore
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