Film: Kirumi
Director: Anucharan
Cast: Kathir, Reshmi Menon, Charlie, Yogibabu, David, Thenvannan
With his experience of directing short films in the international arena, Anucharan makes an impressive debut in Tamil cinema with Kirumi. It’s a theme different and rarely handled in Tamil films.
The movie revolves around police informers, who face the backlash when their mentors or handlers discard them as redundant. With no protection, they become targets for criminal elements, who punish them for exposing them to the law. And it is to the debutant director’s credit that he has managed to weave a realistic thread throughout the narration, without losing sight of the entertainment quotient.
Finely crafted (Anucharan and Kaakka Muttai Manikandan) and evenly paced, the film offers enough of action, suspense and thrill to engage an audience for its entire 105 minutes of viewing time.
The film opens with Kathir (Kathir), a youngster who is jobless, whiling away his time with his cronies, indulging in booze binges and gambling. Married and with a baby, Kathir, however, prefers to stay with his buddies. He is all for a side fling when opportunities beckon him, literally by a saucy girl from a balcony across his routine stop. Whether it’s Kathir’s escapades with his friends, or his relationship with his sister and his wife (Reshmi), the scenes have a natural flow.
He is depicted as an ordinary man, who has to go through all the trauma and distress, when confronted by adversities. It’s his quick wit and the urge to survive, that gets him through such moments. It’s a compelling performance from Kathir, whose expressive eyes and suitable body language brings to life the plight of a common man who finds himself caught between the devil and the deep sea.
A deglamourised Reshmi fits in suitably as Anita, Kathir’s tolerant wife. Another fascinating character is Prabhakaran played with intuitive understanding by Charlie. Prabhakaran a police informer is discreet in his work, aware of the pitfalls of his job. And it’s through him that Kathir catches the eye of the cops and starts working for Soundarapandian, (David) the senior cop on the block.
Cocky and assured of the system’s support, Kathir assists the cops to nab criminals. Reveling in the power and the money he acquires, Kathir gets sucked into the system. Till he realises that the system, however corrupt, has a way of protecting its own and that he is just an outsider.
The infighting between top officers of the police force and the nexus between the cops and the criminal elements are portrayed effectively. The fights and chases are splendidly choreographed, the whole ambiance realistically captured by Arul Vincent’s camera. The songs used in the background form an integral part of the narration.
It is a fitting finale, a non-cinematic but a practical ending, closer to what happens in real life. Kirumi is an example of how a script can be worked within the parameters of commercial cinema and also can be made entertaining without losing sight of reality and reason.