R ARIVANANTHAM
Heartthrob of 1990-2000 Tamil actor Prashanth is making a great comeback at the age of 51 in the blockbuster Hindi remake of ‘Andhadhun.’ The Hindi version was a smartly crafted black comedy thriller by Sriram Raghavan that kept the cinebuffs guessing and on the edge of their seat.
Helmed by Prashanth’s father, actor-producer-director Thiagarajan who had bought the remake rights and made it as ‘Andhagan’ (The Blind Man).
- Director Thiagarajan has taken every effort to make the film eye-catching to cater to the taste of Tamil audience
- Simran ‘overtakes’ everyone and brings personality to the screen by acting well
- Samuthirakani, KS Ravikumar, Vanitha Vijayakumar, Manobala etc. are making necessary contributions in their supporting roles
Krish (Prasanth), who pretends to be blind, is a soulful music lover. He aspires to become a great pianist and is trying to go to London for that. In this environment, a friendship blossoms between him and Julie (Priya Anand). He lives alone with his cat. Krish plans to get a job playing the piano at her resto bar and move to London with the salary.
Senior actor Karthick is an also a frequent visitor to the bar and he falls in love with Krish’s music. Karthick invites Krish to his place for a private concert for his wedding anniversary to surprise his wife Simi (Simran). While life is going on like this, a murder occurs in front of Krish and his plan turns upside down. The plot revolves around whether the murder and the events that followed destroyed Krish’s musical ‘dream’ and brought it to life.
Director Thiagarajan has taken every effort to make the film eye-catching to cater to the taste of Tamil audience. Another reason for this is the undiluted story twists and its engaging nature. Especially Prashant playing the piano at many places recreating the retro songs in Ilayaraja’s music, Karthi as the original actor, watching his ‘Mauna Ragam’, the ‘Jeans’ movie references are reminiscing and relishing. The songs ‘Chandrane Suryaene’ and ‘Nenjukulle Innarunnu Sonna Purimuma’ are amazing.
In this comeback film, Prashant gives his best performance as an innocent musician on the one hand and a man struggling. Simran ‘overtakes’ everyone and brings personality to the screen by acting well.
Priya Anand does not fail to deliver a rich performance even though she gets less screen time. Urvashi – Yogibabu combo guarantees a smile. Karthik makes a mark with typical body language. Samuthirakani, KS Ravikumar, Vanitha Vijayakumar, Manobala etc. are making necessary contributions in their supporting roles.
Santhosh Narayanan’s background score adds to the shock of the twist-filled scenes in a story that moves through music. The piano music is captivating. The songs don’t really stick together. The song ‘En Kadaal’ which comes at the end is okay. Ravi Yadav’s cinematography which adds to the density of the screenplay and Satish Surya’s cinematography are the strength of the film.
Pattukotai Prabhakar could have done better in dialogue writing.
The film moves without much struggle as it is a lively story full of twists and turns. The contribution of mature actors also adds strength to the film.
