SUNDAATTAM MOVIE REVIEW

Set in the 1990's era of the violent North Madras area, 'Sundaattam' has the culture of carom board gambling as its backdrop, with a love story laced within it. Irfan of 'Kanaa Kaanum Kaalangal' series fame, plays the role of the hero, accompanied by a debutante heroine, Arunthathi. Debutante director Brahma G.Dev, shows some promise, with good detailing, but will his directorial and writing skill, be worth the watch ?

Irfan may have the camera-exposure experience, but he is certainly, no hero material. For now ! He lacks the energy and fizz needed to carry the machismo of a Tamizh cinema hero. He has to fine tune his voice modulation and also experiment more to make up for the lack of screen presence. Meanwhile, debutante Arunthathi, shows some promise with her confident performance. She carries her role well, and its not often we get to see such tall heroines. More good roles, and she has a good career, in front of her. Madhu as the antagonist, had the looks required for his role. But his voice lacks the grittiness, needed. The rest of the cast such as Naren, Stalin, Sendraj, Harris Musa, Sree Latha, Kumar, Sujatha, Misha and Vinoth, were apt for their roles.

Jeyaraj's costume designing was apt for the characters, pertaining to particular sections and area of society. 'Super' Subbarayan and 'Action' Prakash's stunt choreography was neatly done, with no exaggerated kicks and punches. Mohana Magendran's art direction was not bad, especially for the market street set-up as the main backdrop for the film and as well as the interiors of the carom club and the protagonist's house. Good job, indeed. L.V Thasson's editing was crisp, keeping the film not too boring and lengthy, with no abrupt jumps. But he must avoid making mistakes by retaining shots for different time period of the film. P.Balagurunathan's cinematography was in tune with the mood and backdrop setting of the script. The raw and edgy look was maintained throughout the film, and the night shots, were well handled, with good exposure lights. The color tone of the film, further complemented the cinematography, pretty well.


Newcomer Britto handles the song compositions of the film. "Adi Unnale" is a good melody number, which was picturized on the market set, with typical rain-and-dance mode, showing the hero falling for the heroine and dreaming of her. The lighting for the song was well handled. "Vizhiyil Vithai" is a situational song, which glorifies the uprising of the hero in the carom gamble scenario and his rivalry with his nemesis. With plenty of montages, the focus was on the hero and the villain, depicting their emotions, in the up-rise and downfall, respectively. The pick of the album, "Narumughaye" is a beautiful and sweet melody, with typical montage picturization of the hero-heroine couple in their love escapades, shot mostly in streets, beaches and in running buses. "Nethiyile" is the only song composed by Arunagiri, and is about the death of an elderly man. A situational song, it was shot with a good number of dancers with song montages slipped in between, in a funeral backdrop. "Kan Kondu" is a pathos song, showing the hero in search of his missing heroine, in sequences of montages, with plenty of close-ups. "Kadhal Varum Varai" is the final song, which was used only like a bit song, picturized on the hero and heroine, getting back together, with the beach and highway as the backdrop. The background score was handled by Achu, and he shows his promising talent, with fine touches of melody here and there.

Debutant Brahma G.Dev's script is shown to be based in the 90's, but honestly, nothing in the film reminded us of that particular time period, except for some film posters and the absence of 21st century gadgetry. It still puzzles, as to why he decided to have that aspect. The only element which reminds us of that time era, is the outdated love-blossoming sequences, which were as old as the hills. His attempt in capturing the dark and gritty North Madras ambiance, is laudable, though. Brahma G.Dev's script lacks the same grittiness needed, as it is too simple and straight-forward. There is nothing interesting which hooks us to the movie. There is no coherent screenplay and certain sequences stands out like a sore thumb, for no reasons. The antagonist lacks attitude needed for the role and though the voice modulation was good, it was not sufficient enough. Brahma G.Dev fails to notch up a clear-cut theme line for his film, which results in his screenplay wandering aimlessly.


Brahma G.Dev could have been roughly inspired by Vetrimaaran's 'Pollathavan'. Hence, the raw output.


Ratings: 1.75/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL

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