Goosebumper No.1. Review on Indian - Tamil Movie

Here comes the best Tamil film I’ve ever seen. Be it entertainment, suspense, insightfulness, technicalities, acting, comedy, everything is there in this movie. I would say that it’s a long gap ever since Kamal gave a decent all-round performance (last seen in Aboorva Sagordharargal)

Warning:

Elaborate review ahead. People with less patience are advised not to proceed further.

I remember going to this movie without a hint on who was the old man shown besides Kamal in the posters and trailers. Such was the suspense maintained by team before screening. I think this was the major factor that pumped up the box office. (It was said that Kamal and Shankar, prior to the screening, visited a restaurant to test how effective Kamal’s makeup was. The people in a restaurant failed to recognize Kamal but promptly hunted for Shankar’s autograph.).

I’ve never seen a highly preaching entertainer (after Parasakthi) as most of the preachers fail to entertain and reach wider viewers. It’s about an old freedom fighter taking revenge for the death of his daughter caused by corruption of Govt. authorities. Slowly his revenges transform into a social cleansing as he turns his attention to the public. At one point, he stumbles upon his son’s corruption and what happens when he is forced to decide between his ideals and fatherhood is the rest of the story. It’s a greatly woven masterpiece with good screenplay, casting, and acting in a patriotic background.

It’s an every man’s dream to see a utopian land of no vows, worries and especially uncorrupted Govt. system (which is nowhere near possibility). The film’s success depicts how badly we are affected by the most prevalent social evil: Bribery.

The introduction scene of old Kamal is exceptionally spine-chilling with his calm manner of killing corrupted officials. It’s quite logical that an old man like him uses “Varma kalai” which doesn’t require much physical strain but lethal in result. He underplays most of the times (with makeup restricting his facial expressions) but that gives us the pleasure of watching his body language at its peak (his mannerism of adjusting the hair at forehead, his walk etc). Suganya also dons old age makeup which doesn’t fit in as it does for Kamal. She plays her role reasonably but far from competing with Kamal in both the periods of the film.

Then we see the usual Kamal (also played as the son of freedom fighter) daring to play a hero with less morale (this shadiness actually supports the story and justifies the ending). He does all the playing and fooling around with heroines and blurting out double-entendres along with the noisy Koundamani (which is also the most unrefined part of the movie but funny anyways). His aim is to become a brake inspector for which he would go to any extreme of derogation.

Most of Shankar’s movies have a sentiment soaked flashback. Here he gives two; one being a patriotic-high octane action and the other is as usual sentimental to its core. The first flashback is shown in black and white (to give the flavour of the period) which takes us to the era of freedom struggle, British atrocities and selfless patriotism. The second flashback shows the domestic life of a freedom fighter after independence, the souring relationship with his son and the painful death of his beloved daughter. AR Rehman’s background score on both the flashbacks kindles our emotions (but re-recording quality on other scenes is poor)

The first flashback and the immediate fighting sequence involving Kamal and Venu are the best scenes of the whole movie. It starts with Kamal walking into the house (background score is “Vande maatharam” done slowly in an instrument), his calm but firm interaction with Venu (background is silence, adding suspense) and then followed by a short but crisp fight with Kamal trying various techniques of “Varma kalai” (Background picks up pace). This is the all performance sequence with good camera work, action, music and importance to details.

The second flashback involves heart-sinking melodrama that reveals the evils of bribery to the utmost extent. The public speech of Kamal while killing Nizhalgal Ravi is stuffed with nice one-liners and the agonies of common citizens.

After this the film gears up in a menacing pace that most of the scenes look jerky, not free flowing and crudely edited. There are few contrivances like Kamal standing for ideals even when his daughter is in the verge of death. He hesitates to offer a small bribe to save her. It’s debatable whether a person would be so idealistic in this scenario. Similarly how Kamal escapes to a foreign land after killing is son is left unexplained. There is nothing much for the feminine cast as Manisha and Urmila serve mostly for songs and glamour (Suganya alone given additional responsibilities)

Nedumudi Venu plays the police detective solving the murders (voice by Naser). The investigation scenes involving Venu are meticulously pictured leaving no detail unrevealed. A short but interesting handwriting analysis sequence shows the homework of the team. Venu tries various methods to catch the murderer and when he does, tries to save him from his higher officials.

The ending is unusual and wide open for a probable sequel. It might have been a thorough Kamal film as he is omnipresent on all scenes, but Shankar’s directorial touches are also found abundant, which makes it an electrifying Kamal-Shankar duo. It’s my Goosebumper No.1