Stalking and its romanticisation have been a major problem in the Indian film industry. Even in last week’s Ispade Rajavum Idhaya Raniyum, we had Bala Saravanan’s character shouting, “Stalking na enna nu solli tholaingalen da!” If I had the superpower to teleport into films, I would take him into this week’s release, Embiran, so he can get a live demo. Krishna Pandi’s debut film is a story of a relentless stalker, but it’s not your average sumaar-paiyan-loves-super-ponnu story.
The stalker here is the heroine. Jaya (Radhika Preethi) dutifully follows doctor Priyan (Rejith Menon) like a shadow. She doesn’t stop there; she clicks pictures without his knowledge and saves it in the cloud. She steals his belongings, leaves gifts inside his car… If there were a Stalker 101 book, it’s safe to say she’s in possession of it. It all reaches a new high — or should I say, low — when she decides to hurt herself, so she can meet the man as a patient.
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She doesn’t have a job, friends, passion, and as a matter of fact, life. Priyan, on the other hand, is completely focused on his career. So focused is he that he doesn’t notice a girl following him for as many as six months, a girl who doesn’t take any great precautions to remain hidden. If he’d spotted her, we could have been spared the events of this film.
But director Krishna Pandi isn’t one to let things fall in place that easily. He throws in a plethora of unfortunate events, which only serve the purpose of being unintentionally hilarious.
The death of an important character evokes tears… of laughter. The film is 103-minutes long, but seems to go on forever. The film is replete with long and tedious shots of characters doing mundane things.
Embiran has a weird tagline: ‘Realism Love’. But try as I might, I could find neither in this film. Embiran literally translates to “My god”; it’s pretty much what was on my mind, as I left the theatre.
Film: Embiran |