'18 Vayasu' (Tamil)
Director: Paneerselvam
Cast: Johnny, Gayathri
It was a team that regaled us with its debut venture ‘Renigunta’. It was an enthralling film with its dark humour, twisted characters and its gritty take on adolescent criminal gangs. And now the same team returns with its second venture, ‘18 Vayasu’. Revolving around a mentally imbalanced teen, his love and fears, it makes an effort to give a new definition to celluloid psychotic behaviour.
The central character is Karthik (Johnny), a fatherless 18-year-old. Thanks to a deprived childhood and an abusive mother, he had grown up to be an emotionally unstable teen. A loner and violent, he was dreaded by the neighbours in the apartment building he was staying. Karthik is interesting with his idiosyncrasies, his action at times generating some humour. With his awkward shuffling gait and stammer, it’s fascinating to see Johnny fall in line with the character, as he barks like a dog, bellows like a bull and hisses like a snake when taunted or emotionally stressed. Only, Karthik’s character graph, antics and incidents, reminds us of earlier films, particularly ‘Kadhal Kondein’.
Karthik’s life takes a turn when he is befriended by Gayathri, and basks in her friendly overtures. The rest is about the steps Karthik takes to save his love. The entry of Karthik’s newfound buddy Jocky peps up the momentum to an extent. It’s a remarkable portrayal by Satyendra as the cranky Jocky with his imaginary pistols, and his firm determination to help Karthik in his cause. The scenes where the duo with the kidnapped girl evade the cops, is a mixture of the absurd and the bizarre. While some of these parts entertain, the rest is lacklustre.
There are a couple of amusing moments. Like a cop regaling his colleagues, by imitating the cowardly surrender of his senior (JS) when confronted by a mad Johnny. The final fight where Karthik with animal-like movements takes on a horde of cops, is impressively choreographed.
The screenplay meanders at times and has some loose ends. Rohini tries to bring some sensibility to her role of the psychiatrist sympathetic to Johnny. But with the character not well fleshed out, it leaves no impression. She had in the earlier part told Johnny’s close friend (Fazil) that there was going to be a conference of doctors to study Karthik’s case. But we get to hear nothing more of it. Also, a friend constantly with him earlier, is nowhere in the picture when Johnny goes through his various trials.
It’s difficult to digest too that a guy so violent and dangerously imbalanced, is allowed to roam freely in the apartment building, instead of being packed off to a mental institution. The songs in the latter half seem forced in, like the dream duet. ‘18 Vayasu’ does make the effort. But it falls short of ‘Renigunta’, which had a far more coherent screenplay and a more gripping narrative.