Malayalam remakes are slowly catching up as a trend in Tamil cinema. After ''Papanasam'' the remake of the super hit and critically acclaimed thriller ''Drsihaym'', here comes ''Oru Naal Iravil''. another Tamil film which is the official remake of Malayalam film ''Shutter''.The Tamil version of ''Shutter'' has been directed by Antony who is one of the most sought after Editors in Kollywood. Veteran Sathyaraj has reprised the lead role played by another veteran Lal in the original.
Lets see how the maiden attempt of Antony as a director has fared and done justice to the critically acclaimed ''Shutter''?
Sekar (Sathyaraj) is NRI who returns from Singapore to settle with his family. He uses his garage for boozing with friends.
Sethu (Yuhi Sethu) is a filmmaker who tries hard for his reentry. His bound script gets caught in the garage of Sekar due to circumstances.
One night, Sekar’s trustable aide auto-driver (Varun) locks him up in the garage with a sex worker (Anu Mol) and promises to come after some time. But he could not turn up as promised as he gets caught in a mess. What happens to Sekar and how Sethu gets back is script is told in rest of the film.
The most part of the first half is allocated to establish the characters and the setting. The film is all about unexpected events that connect three men (Sekar, a family head, an Auto-driver and a filmmaker who needs a break in career) and a woman (sex-worker). With this setting the film aspires to be a thriller with strong emotional content.
The lead character is an uneducated and conservative man who believes everything as he sees. He takes impulsive decisions in life. How his one day forced stay in a locked room makes him learn truths hidden behind what meets the eye and how he transforms as a refined person has been dealt with neatly with ideal mix of emotions and proper detailing of characters.
On the other hand the thriller part is not pleasing as much. The film has scope for tense moments as the lead character''s social and family life will be at stake if the door is opened by a wrong person at a wrong time. The script is narrated in a way that makes us expect something big to happen but nothing happens till the end. In a bid to add up the thrill quotient, the film is filled with moments that pump the tension by hiding the exact details of something, only to end up as nothing to be worried incident when revealed. For example a red color liquid is shown oozing out from the closed garage only to be revealed later that it is red paint and not blood.
In a film which does not have great scope for thrill, smart scenes would have been a great compliment. This film does have such scenes. Sekar conveying a truth indirectly to his daughter through a phone call is one such example. But the problem is scenes like this are few and far in the film.
The script also resorts to convenient turns to draw the connection between characters. The sex worker taking the script with her does not seem to have any other purpose than making the filmmaker understand something he does not know about her.
Beyond these shortcoming, the film engages you till the last shot. The film with an ideal running time of less than two hours and minimal songs does not drag at any point. There is no single scene that falls out of the main plot and every scene is linked to the next.
Sathyaraj has understood the needs of the character and the veteran gives his best. Especially his expression of terror when he hears the sound of someone knocking or opening the shutter proves his expertise in the art. It is hard to believe that Anu Mol is a newcomer. Her expressions, body-language and dialogue delivery are close to perfection. The makers must be appreciated for not adding any crass elements in her character despite the scope offered by a sex-worker character. Yuhi Sethu is convincing in his role as a struggling filmmaker. Varun as the innocent and enthusiastic auto driver fits the bill.
Yuhi Sethu''s dialogues are a big plus for the film. They evoke situational laughter in many instances and some dialogues uttered by the filmmaker and the sex-worker character make the right impact. M.S.Prabhu''s cinematography gives what is required for the film. Navin’s re-recording complements the tone and emotion of the scenes.
Editor Antony, for his directorial debut has taken up the remake of a realistic Malayalam film ''Shutter'' that narrates the events of a person’s life. He deserves to be praised for doing justice to the original by not thrusting any commercial elements or unwanted scenes and dialogues in the name of adding the local flavor.
Verdict: ''Oru Naal Iravil'' is not great but it is neat and engaging.
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