‘Rowthiram’ (Tamil)
Director: Gokul
Cast: Jiiva, Shriya Saran, Jaiprakash, Ganesh Acharya, Lakshmi Krishnan, Monica, Babu Antony, Satyan
‘Rowthiram’ is yet another hero-gangsters story retold and the director has not made any efforts to infuse anything new in the way incidents occur or in presentation. Also, the message that he tries to convey in the end is extremely convoluted.
The film opens a couple of decades into the past in a village, where an eight-year-old Shiva lives with his grandfather (Prakash Raj in a guest appearance). It is a promising opening and after a few initial scenes, you may as well stop expecting anything remotely interesting from the film.
The grandfather, who is the messiah around the place, punishes the wrongdoers. He is seen giving long talks on courage and the need to fight against injustice and we immediately know that these talks will have a relevance later in the film, but just as we begin to soak in the essence of the situation, the movie shifts to the present, to Chennai.
Shiva (Jiiva) is a brooding youth who aspires to get into the railways through a sports quota. Shiva seems to carry a lot of pent up emotions and anger within him, walking around with a perpetually grim expression. Shiva jumps into the fray whenever he sees any wrong-doing around him. Taking his role a tad too seriously, Jiiva rarely smiles or relaxes.
Shriya is nothing more than eye candy and does not contribute much to the screenplay, except for fulfilling the glam quotient. The film has a lot to do with Jiiva and a number of rowdies with various motives, but even the director, just like we do while watching the film, seems to have trouble in finding a common link between these thugs.
And like most Tamil films, the hero efficiently manages to beat up two dozen enemies without a single blow landing on him, not even accidentally. The climax fight is laughable. It happens late night setting on a deserted road, with the rowdies hiding to ambush and kill Shiva, who spot him coming on his bike alone.
But instead of moving in for the kill, they keep signalling each other down the line, as if they are in the middle of a secret forest- operation. Some of the better moments in the film are the family scenes. These include Shiva’s doting mother (Lakshmi), his two siblings who have to keep secrets from their brother, and the mild father, (Jaiprakash) irked by his son’s penchant to invite trouble, and fearing for the safety of his family.
A controlled Jaiprakash gives what is probably the only notable performance in the film.
‘Rowthiram’ is a far too long and a tedious journey that tests one’s patience at times.