Set in a rural milieu, the film deals with family bonding and human relationships. It’s the director’s second venture after Ayyan (2011). While Kenthiran has tried to maintain a smooth narrative flow, what is missing is the punch and fritz in the screenplay. There is not much exciting happening in the earlier part. It’s towards the latter part that a semblance of interest is generated, when the plot takes an investigative mood and tracks the identity of the killer responsible for a murder.
It opens with Kumaran, his dreams realised when he gets a lucrative job at a firm in Chennai. On a job posting to China, Kumaran visits his village to get his parents’ consent. It’s a routine scenario where Kumaran falls for the comely Malar, a motherless girl deeply attached to her maternal uncle Sami (Kenthiran). Though the uncle-niece bonding is the centre point of the plot, the intensity of it is never really touched on. The characters could have been better fleshed out and the various relationships clearly established. What is brought out to an extent is the attachment of Malar to her father. Malar rejects Kumaran’s marriage proposal, as she didn’t want to leave her father and go with Kumaran to China.
Taman has a pleasant screen presence and plays Kumaran with competence. The actor has yet to get his rightful due in films. Samskruthi is adequate as Malar. Kenthiran’s Sami is portrayed with zest and efficiency. The rivalry between Sami’s mentor Raasu (Cheranraj) a local thug and Kumaran’s father a respected bigwig of the place follows the routine path. It’s when Sami is killed, Malar distressed and Kumaran’s father a suspect, that the hero decides to get to the bottom of the matter.
Sami had earned many enemies and Kumaran had to find out which one of them had bumped him off. A lackluster first half perks up to an extent here with some suspense and action weaved in. What is appreciable is that the director has capsuled his whole story-telling to less than two hours of viewing time. With no big names to boast of in its cast or technical crew, the film had raised no expectation. So it is no disappointment either.