Film: Aaya Vada Sutta kadhai
Director: N Phanindra
Cast: Avitej, Suparna, Mani, Manoharan, Sai Prasad
An apartment building becomes the focal point of debutant director Phanindra’s plot and he has used the limited space to good effect. It’s about three friends who do odd jobs at the building, and the turn their lives take when a vacant flat is rented out to a drug trafficking gang. The narrative style is simple and uncomplicated, with many light moments and a couple of fine performances.
When a flat in a middle-class residential apartment is rented out to the gang, it sets the stage for some action. There are quite a few who want to lay their hands on the money expected from the drug deal. Like Dorai the dishonoured cop, the drug mafia, and the friends who are in urgent need of money to tide over a crisis. Each of them hatch a plan to steal the money.
What stands out is the humour weaved in through the characters. Like the scenes between the boss and his bumbling henchmen. Debutant Mani as Kumar the uncouth rowdy is hilarious in his body language and style of dialogue delivery. He is splendid in the scene, when the cop confronts him and intimidates him to part with the drug-money. What follow is mistaken identities, and mixed-up packages.
There are the half-hearted romantic interludes between Mani (debutant Avitej neatly fits in) and Renu, but the track is not fleshed out well. The song at a liquor bar when the plot is in its final stage is an unwanted distraction. The twist towards the end is appreciable. For jut about 113 minutes of viewing time, the film is a pleasant watch.