The plot centers on a simple young man who finds himself in an extraordinary situation, where he is trapped into doing the bidding of an unscrupulous man obsessed with making money. The theme has a contemporary feel and despite its potential of becoming a racy thriller, it’s rather unfortunate that the director had exploited the potential to the maximum.
The story begins with Murugan’s family in dire financial straits. His father running a chit fund and cheated by his partner had to bear the wrath of the customers. His son Murugan sets out to Chennai to seek the help of a friend. But a ‘wrong call’ to an unknown number links him to Shantharam, a bank robber and turns Murgan’s life upside down.
There are quite a few loopholes in the screenplay and the crucial moments are rushed through. The fact that Shantharam has robbed quite a few banks earlier should have made him a smooth operator. But the bank robbery is scripted badly and the scene turns out to be a clumsy affair.
Murugan played by Roshan (the young villain of 2015’s Paapanasam) is just about adequate. But it’s Shantharam who takes the chunk of space and seems to be having all the fun. Played by Biju Isaac (the film’s co-producer), he seems to be the only smart and intelligent character in the film.
Cocking a nook at the local cops and the CBI officers, Shantharam escapes the traps laid for him, at times making the officers of law seem incompetent. They cut a pathetic sight in the scene where a handful of them chase the robber on foot through lanes and by-lanes and clumsily let him slip away. The episode of the CBI questioning Shantharam at a dilapidated godown and the scenes that follow lack logic and clarity. The heroine Anita doesn’t play a large role here. She is an employee of the bank that was robbed, and is taken hostage by the robbers, who dumped out of the car shortly thereafter.
The CBI suspects her to be in nexus with the robbers and Murugan’s sympathy leads him to strike a friendship with her, which later would be his undoing. The romantic linking of the duo seems a half-hearted move. The twist at the end seems far-fetched and unconvincing. It was more like a twist for the sake of it!
Thankfully, we’re spared of a dream song and some inane comedy track. The chase scene between the bank robbers and the cops in two vans provides some thrill. Boasting of no big names in the crew or cast, it is not a film that had raised any expectation. So there is no great disappointment either.