Chennaiyil Oru Naal Review

                How often do we get to see a Tamil movie where every minute in the movie really counts? Well the last instance I remember seeing something similar was in Unnai Pol Oruvan.  Yet again a Tamil Cinema has bolted such a screenplay as a strong anchor. I must say the movie has lot of positives and a must watch even before I get to the details of what's hot and what's not.

What's HOT

• Firstly the ensemble cast, a great positive from an industry permanently tattooed with heroism and star studded one man shows. A little sad to note that this casting hasn't happened on an original script but only to an award winning remake.
• The movie has all the elements of making it a full course meal (hero, villain, politics, romance, betrayal, rich, poor et al) however the director cooks a perfect one course diet meal sans the unwanted fat, whatsoever.
• I don't know what's with Kollywood, off-late too many attempts (Pizza, Paradesi and this too) at a 2 hour running length however this movie is an example of it in a good way.
• I felt this movie is definitely NOT the kind of remakes where the Find & Replace-Cast alone technique (the one employed in Remake Ravi's movies) is employed.
• If the casting, script and pace of the movie were the three pillars then the fourth one definitely was the screenplay where the open ended threads in the various sub-plots does not leave us in doubts (unlike Paradesi) but gives all that is needed for us to close each of them ourselves mentally.
• Yet another purposeful yet subtle add on here being each of the three roadtrip characters belonging to different religions which in a way made me feel they are all not different and when there is a real need there is just one religion called mankind, just as how humans started!

Quite a few blips in this screenplay too.

What's NOT

• Understandable even the Sundara Pandian (Sarath Kumar) can lose track of his operation once (where the interval comes) but twice (where he calls off the operation, hastily)? I did not expect this from a top cop sitting in a control room with satellite gizmos and with known last point of contact but still unable to fathom the current coordinates of a speeding car. If it took a top cop to realize the car is 8Km ahead in its journey only after hearing from Sathyamoorthi, then I guess not just him but his entire team sitting at the control room are pathetic in their geography.
• Keeping the audience guessing and nail biting was a strong positive in this movie right from the start however it lost its way & literally caved-in in the last 15 minutes. There is a situation of shortage of time and detour was needed. Its announced that only one man can make it happen hassle free. Had that one person was kept under wraps until the end of the detour and revealed later would've sustained the guessing game till the end, which however did not happen & was lost. The Surya cameo in the start phase of it and the boring & not so necessary confidence boosting speech of his that followed thereafter, looked like a take off from his Avan-Ivan cameo with just a different script to jabber.
• Though the pacey song was sort of good, the other two were just establishment fillers & hence the music was disappointment for me, I felt they were either plagiarized err inspired ones,  or I-don't-have-much-bmgs-I-shall-repeat-the-same ones umpteen times.
• The most disappointing and needless thing about this movie is the one that happens during the end credits, its a true face-palm material.

Bottomline:

   This movie is truly worth the money for a big screen experience. Yet another humane gesture showcased. Time & statistics would be the real litmus test for the movie's success in its cause more than just the revenue for the producers of the movie.

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