Like Parthiepan’s earlier films, this one too has a catchy title and a quirky tagline, ‘A film with mistakes’. The latter is not just about the mistakes committed by the characters, it’s also about the glitches in the film. The director has tried out a different genre here. As the viewer tries to fill in the blanks deliberately left, the dip in the screenplay and the leisurely pace pose as speed breakers, slackening the momentum of what could otherwise have been an interesting and a satisfactory fare.
The film has a promising opening. But with a wafer thin plot, it at times seems like the director was trying to stretch it to an unmanageable length. The screenplay losing steam as the narration progresses, peps up again towards the climax. The plot centres on three main characters. A cab driver Rangaraj (Parthiepan) who dabbles in real estate, his wife Mohini (Parvathi) and Kevin, an NRI (Shanthnu) who comes to India and is interested in buying a residential property. Staying in a bungalow, Kevin experiences some weird happenings.
The director maintains an element of suspense as to the direction the narration would take. But with quite a few films in recent times having had similar openings, one wonders if this too would travel the same path. It does. While Parthiepan has worked out the initial moments of interaction among the trio fairly well, and the closing moments too, it’s the journey in between that could have been crafted in a more exciting way.
The dialogue has its fair share of double entendre, including stale ones. Also, Parthiepan’s constant play on words, a favourite tool of his to add supposed humour to a line, is becoming rather tiresome. Simran plays a cameo, her role not quite explained. The songs are peppy, but they distract owing to wrong placement.
On the positive side, the technical crew is supportive of the director’s vision.
The colour tones lend a lyrical feel. The film has some fine performances. Shanthnu is a revelation here. With controlled, mature take on his role, Shanthnu displays subtle nuances of expression as Kevin travels from uncertainty and confusion, to guilt and regret. If Parvathi as Mohini is erratic in her display of emotions and body language, the finale should explain some of it. Parthiepan remains in character throughout with not a wrong move. The interaction between him and Ramaiah leads to some fun moments.
Taking about 124 minutes of viewing time, the film fairly engaging in its take, could have done with a more coherent screenplay and a brisk narrative style.