Film: Onbathilirunthu Pathuvarai
Director: Vijay Shanmughavel
Cast: Kathir, Swapna Menon, Saravana Subbiah,Crane Manohar
A road trip with a crime angle weaved in forms the crux of the plot. That it is the work of a debutant maker is evident, both in the etching of its screenplay and in its amateur storytelling method. The director tries to surprise the audience with some turns in the plot, and ends it with a major twist and an interesting final touch. But it is too little and too late to salvage the film.
The plot traverses on two parallel tracks, the shuttling from one to the other rather jerky. The first half moves at a slow pace with nothing much happening. It begins with the playful antics of Pandi, a cheerful call taxi driver and his brush with the cops. Pandi, enamoured of the voice of Arthi, an RJ, is an ardent listener of her programmes. And when he realises that the passenger who hired him to take her to Kancheevaram was his favourite RJ, his initial resentment and taunts turn to joy. Their constant bickering takes up most of the first part. These scenes are listless and hold no interest.
Arthi, engaged to an NRI, was paying a visit to her future mother-in-law. Pandi’s unwelcome remarks about her fiance, put Arthi off. On a parallel track is a serial killer on the prowl, and the rivalry between two cops, each resenting the other’s presence. Kathir is adequate in his role and debutant Swapna from the Malayalam screen is a promising find. The director tries to add a comic touch towards the end, where Pandi holds Arthi’s family hostage and blackmails her into doing his bidding. This episode has a couple of mild fun moments.
The consequences when an obsessed fan takes the words of his object of worship to heart, is touched on here. What is appreciable is that the director has managed to capsule his whole plot to just about 97 minutes of viewing time. A knot with potential, it could have turned into an exciting thriller, had the screenplay been etched in a more coherent and convincing way.