Raththam Review

Raththam  -  A sophisticated journalism thriller that begs for more energy

Vijay Antony known for his offbeat thriller movies and pioneering spoof comedy expert C.S. Amudhan is a highly unlikely but exciting combo on paper.  The college buddies have joined together for this journalism thriller 'Raththam'.  Whether the film will make the audience run from the blood splatter or keep them wanting more remains to be seen.

As shown in the sneak peak 'Raththam' opens with a cold blooded murder of a young news magazine owner Chezhiyan right in front of his fiance (Ramya Nambesan) and the rest of the office staff including editor Madhumitha (Nandita Swetha).  It's a open shut case as the murderer is apprehended on the spot and his motive was that the paper published a story against his favorite actor and the devout fan is willing to give up anything in life for him.  Cut to Kolkata, Ranjith Kumar (Vijay Antony) a widower lives with his little daughter and makes a living by tending to horses.  Chezhiyan's father Nizhalgal Ravi visits the hero and requests him to come back to Chennai and look after the magazine as he considers him also as a son.  Ranjith Kumar, once a famous investigative journalist and now an alcoholic, reluctantly starts investigating.  In the same city Mahima Nambiar, a single parent is running a travel agency with two other women employees and she has to tend to her dyslexic daughter.   Ranjith Kumar finds a connection between the murder of his friend Chezhian with other similar murders committed all over Tamil Nadu. He deduces that the murderers are also victims and there is an organization behind the murders who uses them for gain.  Who is the head of that organization and how the journalist brings them to justice is what 'Raththam' is all about.

Vijay Antony as usual just with his body language and voice modulation cracks the journalist role effortlessly.  He is also good in the emotional scenes with his daughter as well as Remya Nambesan.  Nandita Shwetha is aptly cast as the headstrong editor while Remya is effective in a multi shaded character.  The surprise package in 'Raththam' is Mahima Nambiar who is charming as the single mother and in dealing with her colleagues at work.   Later on she is riveting after the out of the blue twist in her character that few will see coming.  The rest of the cast has a mix of known and unknown faces.

What works best in 'Raththam' is the core plot idea of organized crime using modern technology making the murderers also victims.  The modus operandi of the mastermind using psychological profiling method to identify weak minded economically backward youngsters to commit their hate crimes is spine chilling. The detailing on how an investigative journalist should function is depicted interestingly.  The story behind Remya Nambesan's character adds to the intrigue while the best twist in the tale comes during the interval block.  There is an enjoyable 'Kill Bill' like moment between the hero and the villain along with their two children that is enjoyable.

On the downside the film wastes too much time in explaining Ranjith Kumar's backstory while a flash back of his journalistic glory would have done the film a lot more good.  The film becomes boring once it turns from an investigative thriller to an action movie especially the commissioner office escapade.  The decision that the protagonist makes with regards to the villain in the climax dilutes the gravity of the entire story and makes a mockery of all that came before that.  The film lacks the energy to move beyond mildly interesting to engaging.

Kannan's background scores and songs are generic and his theme music for Mahima reminds the one that Ghibran scored for Sshavada in 'Athey Kangal'.  Gopi Amarnath's blue tinted cinematography style gives a uneasy feeling that the story demands while the slow burn editing style of T.S. Suresh also holds good.  Infiniti Ventures who have produced the film with quality content as well as execution.   C.S. Amudhan has totally departed from his fun filled 'Thamizh Padam' series and has taken the serious route showing sophistication in his plot, characterization and story elements.  However the few misses are so big that they pull down the better scenes.Ra composed the music for this film. Komal Bohra, Pankaj Bohra and Dhananjayan have jointly produced this film.

Verdict : Go for this journalism thriller with a sophisticate plot and a few surprising twists