After ‘Kaakka Muttai’ turned out to be the most critically and commercially successful film to have emerged in Tamil cinema the spotlight is on its director Manikandan. Now ‘Kirumi’ the second film carrying his name has released, but this time Manikandan’s role is limited to the creative department as his name is credited for Story and Screenplay along with debutante director Anu Charan.
‘Kirumi’ with predominantly less known faces has managed to generated enormous prerelease buzz not just for the Manikandan tag but with the slick trailer that was released a couple of months ago. How this buzz has transformed on the mega screen?
Kathir(Kathir) is a jobless youngster who is married to Anitha (Reshmi Menon) and has a kid. With the help of his well-wisher Prabhakar (Charlie) who is a police informer, Kathir joins the group functioning as Friends of Police in the local Police Station; He impresses the station’s inspector Soundarapandiyan (David) with his smartness and becomes his close aide.
Soundarapandian learns from Kathir, about the illegal gambling taking place in a bar that comes under the limits of neighbourhood police station. Against Prabhakaran’s advice, Kathir helps Soundarapandian to raid the bar and loot the unaccounted money and also seal the bar. .
Kathir understands that he has embroiled himself in a web of crime happening with connivance of money hungry police officers after paying a price but it was too late and his life and family are at stake now.
Whether Kathir manages to save himself and his family from the criminal gang seeking his blood in revenge? What’s the role of police officers involved in this battle of money and blood? To know the answers watch the film in theatres.
Manikandan and Anu Charan’s story carries a much needed message. It cautions against playing with the gigantic system considering oneself as over smart and superior to co-humans. It asks us to set aside heroic dreams to live a happy, peaceful and safe life.
Such a realistic message coming within the commercial cinema space without compromising its necessary elements needs to be welcomed with open heart. Moreover the film takes us to a journey into the unexplored areas of internal politics within the police department, and the highly risky life of police informers.. The script is packed with romance, comedy, action, sentiment and action in optimum level to sustain the interest of the audience throughout the proceedings.
Nevertheless too much time taken to establish the characters and some sequences stretched beyond the required level dampen the impact made by the film overall. The realistic climax is okay but the chasing and action blocks and the, scenes detailing the betrayal faced by the lead character make us expect a climax with a smart twist or something that hits hard. Hence the climax may not make the desire impact with the audience used to things turning upside down towards the climax of such films. At the end we are also reminded about a few questions left unanswered.
After a mediocre performance in his debut film ‘Madhayanaikoottam’, Kathir scores big with this film. He earnestly tries to carry off the character with perfection and succeeds to a great extent. His powerful eyes and the way he uses them to convey emotions will be helpful for this young man to make it big as an actor in Kollwood. Nevertheless he has to concentrate more in dancing skills if he prefers to become a commercial star. Reshmi Menon as the wife of Kathir perfectly fits in the role of a young mother belonging to the lower middle class with the looks as well as performance. The impeccable acting prowess of veteran Charlie comes to fore after a long time as he plays the role of a father like figure to the hero. Tamilselvi who has acted as the physically challenged wife of Charlie leaves a lump on throat. Yogi Babu as Kathir’s friend provides comic relief while David as the police inspector lives as the dominating powerful cop you would have come across in a real police station.
Technical departments are one of the biggest plusses of the film that make watching it a pleasurable experience. K’s Background score makes the right impact while the songs are passable. Debutant cinematographer Arul Vincent has used a bluish tint to capture Chennai with unique beauty. Director Anu Charan himself has Edited the film and it could have been a great job if he had scissored a few over stretched sequences especillay in the first half.
Verdict: ‘Kirumi’ aspires to be a commercial entertainer with a touch of reality and ends up as an above average film likeable by all kind of audiences.
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