The director’s debut film 'Thaa' had freshness in its theme and in its character etching. Vil Ambu too deviates from the routine commercial format and offers a fare that is different. The plot centres on two youngsters who never meet, though their paths cross each other many a time. How their lives influence each other, forms the crux of the plot. Novel in its concept, Ramesh Subramaniam’s (aka Surya Prabhakar) plot travels on two different tracks converging at certain points.
Sri and Harish Kalyan play Karthi and Arul respectively, their characters a study in contrast.
Karthi is a slum dweller and does odd jobs for a living. A frequent jailbird, he has no qualms indulging in a bit of stealing and conning. Arul holds to his middle class values, cops and jail anathema to him. Interested in camera work, Arul quits engineering midway to the irritation of his father (essayed by Fivestar Kalyan, Harish’s real-life father). The lives of the duo take a turn when Karthi is asked to deliver a consignment across the border and Arul finds he is made a scapegoat in a murder.
While one comes out unscathed from a situation of his own making, the other finds himself accused of a crime he was innocent of. Harish Uthaman (the hero of the director’s earlier film) plays the baddie. Yogi Babu has steadily evolved into a Comedian in his own right, his scenes a laugh riot here. It’s heartening to see the women bold and feisty.
Like Poonkodi (Samskruthi) the daughter of politician (Nandakumar) who boldly expresses her admiration for Karthi; Nithya(Dange) unabashed in her love for Arul; and slum dweller Kanaga (Chandini) avendor who compromises her reputation to save Arul.
Thedirector’s effort in carefully etching the screenplay with not many contrived moments, as he merges and separates the two tracks, is laudable.
The protagonists many a time are in the same spot unknown to each other and have reason to be where they are.
So, after all the intriguing play on the situations, the climax comes as a bit of a let down.
Vil Ambu has one of the better scripts to come out in recent time and is a mildly pleasant watch.