Achamindri Tamil Movie

This low-key social thriller, had many loose plot strands that was handled amateurishly, neither making it convincing nor entertaining. Dec 31, 2016 By Baranidharan S

Plot spoilers ahead....

Has it become a phenomenon to cast Samuthirakani in movies that try to flesh out the brutalities in present day educational system? As an actor, he is the face of "good samaritanism" or in Tamil cinema parlance, a good character artist who imbues all things rationale. At least he was one good reason for me to go and watch this supposedly low-key movie in theatres apart from the obvious fact of reviewing it.

The relatively newbie director, Rajapandi (whose first film was "Ennamo Nadakuthu") has tried to come up with a smart thriller with a social angle, a dig at the present day educational system. The movie begins with the murder of an upright IAS officer who tries to cleanse the educational system, giving us a sense of what the movie's core is rooted at.

Then we get introduced to Vijay Vasant and company who make ends meet by picking pockets. The traditional role of "Tamil loosu ponnu" is played by Shruti Dange who falls for Vijay thinking that he is a cop. Then there is another plot involving a relationship between Samuthirakani, who obviously plays a cop and Vidya Pradeep, whose job profile was ignored (maybe the director had run of ideas for a job profile).

Then there is an education minister (played by Radha Ravi) and his corrupt PA who instill the much-needed sinisterness to the plot or so we are made to believe. In all these plot strands, a student is involved, wherein he or she gets beaten by the bureaucracy and corruption. Obviously, the real culprit is brought to justice and dealt with after what seemed to be a naive and long 2 hours in the theatre.

In a sense, I felt the movie had two plots, one which made justice to the commercial aspect and the other one which bore the social angle. So it was like watching 2 for the price of 1 and the irony was, neither made sense. Though the plot was quite convincing, the direction was amateurish.

In the age where subtleness and finesse rule over bloated melodrama even in the rural centres, how can one expect to lap up to bloated mainstream tear jerkers with misfitted plot points, below average music and average performances? Even Samuthirakani looked out of sync with the proceedings that went haywire. Imagine a scene where one of the main characters die followed by another scene where a plot for a duet ensues. What era of filmmaking are we living in?

The silver lining was obviously Saranya's role that was kept under wraps till the end and the final court scene where the supposedly evil doer is given a voice to justify the root of the evil. Apart from these, the movie was a below average fair which can be given a miss.