DAMAAL DUMEEL MOVIE REVIEW

Debutante director Shree, a former associate of Shankar during the 'Endhiran' days, has joined hands with some of his mates from the 'Endhiran' stable and comes out with 'Damaal Dumeel'. Touted to be a neo-noir genre or black comedy with some dashes of comedy, it features lesser known artistes such as Vaibhav and Remya Nambeesan as the main leads. Can Shree come up with a crackling product, befitting of the title ?

Vaibhav carries the whole film on his shoulders, because the plot is woven around him. He looks good, enacts well, but the screen presence is missing and he doesn't stand out, especially during the most crucial sequences. A better characterization and vision from the director could have brought out a more enthralling performance from him. Remya Nambeesan has nothing much to do, and is just adequate enough. Kota Srinivasa Rao, keeps our funny bones tickled, with some good comic timing and expressions and his screen presence, is what actually keeps our attention towards the film. The veteran just breezed through the role, yet left his mark. The same cannot be said about Sayaji Shinde, though. His character is of equal importance with Kota's, but the characterization was weak, and his role suffered from poor detailing. Charlie, Venkat, Manobala and a host of newcomers and junior artistes, make up the rest of the small cast.

The film carries some decent technical outputs from the technical crew. Action choreography is handled by G, and his stunt sequences are kept simple and sufficient for the need of the script. The altercations between Vaibhav and the other artistes, taking place in the protagonist's apartment, were realistically staged. K.Arusamy's art direction was neat, especially with the interior works of the protagonist's apartment setting, as well as with the climax paint factory premise. The vision was simple, yet well pulled-off. Editing by Paramesh Krishna was adequate, and he has kept the running time to less than 2 hours. Some of the visual splits, which he employs in the second half, is interesting. Cinematography by A.M Edwin Sakay, was neat and purposeful. The camera movements and the angles used by the cinematographer was simple, yet it did the job of conveying the story's mood and style.

S.S Thaman's soundtrack is good and fits the movie's flow. "Saga Saga" is the opening number and acts as the introductory song of the lead pair. The song was shot in a nightclub, which had all the atypical dark shots, with different lighting. Deepika Kamaiah makes a cameo in this song. The titular track, "Dumeel" is a situational song, featuring montages of Vaibhav, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Sayaji Shinde, trying to figure out plans and 'tactics'. The editing by Paramesh Krishna for this particular song was slick. "Pogadhe Pogadhe", sung by Remya herself, is a bit-song, highlighting an unfortunate incident between the lead pair. "Odi Odi" appears in the climax, and is also a situational song, with some visual split-ups, well thought by the director and executed by the editor. The "Damaal Dumeel" theme music, appears sporadically, throughout the duration of the film. S.S Thaman's background score was good too, especially for the crucial 'twist-and-turn' scenes. Overall, this film would have been a walk in the park for S.S Thaman.

For a first time filmmaker, Shree has some clever ideas, which he has tried to execute well. Unfortunately, the film is riddled with inconsistencies with the scripting and writing. The dialogues by Shree, was just bland and unexciting, which should not be the case in a black comedy. Especially, when you had some good films from the same genre, with excellent dialogues (Soodhu Kavvum & Moodar Koodam). The lifestyle and issues faced by the IT-based employees, were well presented, though and Shree can be commended for that, as well as for not dragging the screenplay with unnecessary sequences. The screenplay was just apt and the director immediately starts off the film, based on the crux of his plot. As mentioned earlier, the artistes suffered due to poor characterizations, wherein their characters lacked the depth and detailing needed, which makes it almost impossible for us to empathize with the lead pair. There is no organic development in the story-line, and everything happens so quickly, without any rational quotient to it. There are plenty of blatant loopholes and glaring gaps in the plot, which were not addressed by the director. The ending was pretty much too simple, which makes all the earlier proceedings to just go kaput, for no reasons. The comedy sequences too, did not work out well, apart from those, which features Kota Srinivasa Rao. Conclusion, 'Damaal Dumeel' would have worked out fine, if this was a short film.

'Damaal Dumeel' - Tame, celebratory 'shoot-out' !


Ratings: 2.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL