DIARY REVIEW
Arulnidhi’s Supernatural Thriller Is Intriguing and Manages To Keep Us Engaged For Major Parts
Director: Innasi Pandiyan
Cast: Arulnithi, Pavithrah Marimuthu, Jayaprakash, Sha Ra, Kishore Kumar, Thanigai
Music: Ron Ethan Yohann
Editor: SP Raja Sethupathi
Directed by debutant Innasi Pandiyan, the film has lots of elements and thus it doesn’t fall into one genre. The film begins with an investigation and moves to crime, comedy, romance, and horror. Was it done Intentionally by the director? Though this switch confuses people, still it managed to keep us glued to our seats for some time. The movie begins with a car accident that happens in the early 2000s in the 13th Hairpin bend in Ooty which is said to hold many mysteries. At Present, Arulnithi who is a trainee inspector takes up an unsolved murder which is 20 years old as his first case.
This case takes him to Ooty where he has to work with the station Inspector Pavithra to investigate the crime. When he starts investigating, he comes to know about a murder that happened in a similar pattern in Coimbatore and to investigate further he decides to travel to the place. Here is where the genre of the movie slowly starts changing. The rest of the story is set on the bus that is going to Coimbatore and we are introduced to the passengers travelling in the bus who holds a purpose in the story. How they are linked and how Arulnithi solves the age-old case form the crux of the story.
The movie takes time to establish, the first half of the movie was spent introducing the characters and the elements surrounding them. The movie gets to the plot only in the second half. There are many logical errors which remain unaddressed, especially the scenes where they show spirits hanging in the bus makes no sense at all. We wonder why was it even there at the end of the film. There are many twists in the film that are introduced every 15-20 minutes which makes it tiring at the end. There are lots of things to process and it gets overloaded. But the attempt needs to be appreciated, a little care in the screenplay could have worked wonders.
Arulnithi gives a neat performance, but his screen presence was on and off, also he should try experimenting with other genres instead of doing similar ones back-to-back. Debutant heroine Pavithrah Marimuthu has done a good job, she has a good scope in Kollywood. Sha Ra gets to play a small part and did his best. His comedies worked here and there but were irritating at few places. Jayaprakash looks evil and does what’s required. His role could have been written well. The rest of the cast has given their best out of their given screen time. The stunt sequences were choreographed well.
Coming to the technical aspect of the movie, Cinematography was good, and it definitely needs a thumbs up. VFX was poor, it could have been better. Music by Ron Ethan Yohann is good but doesn’t impress us much. The BGM elevates the scenes and gives us a creepy feel. Editing should have been Crispier to make a supernatural thriller engaging throughout, but the editor failed to do it. on the whole, this movie is worth the watch this week. Go for it.