JIGARTHANDA MOVIE REVIEW

Listed as one of the most eagerly expected Indian film of 2014 by Forbes India Magazine, the long awaited second film of Karthik Subbaraj gets released ! 'Jigarthanda' is said to be the first script of Karthik Subbaraj and eventually it was 'Pizza' which got made first. With a fantastic cast and crew, can Karthik justify all the expectations created and fulfill the expectations of Tamizh film connoisseurs ?

Siddharth is a fantastic choice by Karthik for the lead role, and he is ultra-convincing with his performance. As the meek and opportunistic budding film director, he was just very good with his composed expression and nonchalant acting. His dialogue delivery too was excellent and he nailed his character to perfection. Lakshmi Menon was adequate and carries a role with a morally ambiguous nature, very comfortably. She has limited scenes, but she impresses in where ever she gets her space. Karunakaran rocks with his comic timing and the informal and casual approach to his role, works very well. His antics in the second half are just pure rip-roaring comedy. A super star comedy artiste, in the making ! But the film definitely belongs to Bobby Simhaa, who was just simply terrific as the antagonist 'Assault' Sethu. Right from his deadly & electrifying introductory scene, he was simply a class act and made complete justice to the role and belief of Karthik Subbaraj for casting him. This is definitely a lifetime performance from Bobby Simhaa and one should expect a shower of awards for his acting, in the coming year. Take a bow Bobby Simhaa, you have truly arrived ! The film has a big cast which includes Ramachandran Durairaj, Naren, Guru Somasundaram, Soundara Rajan, Ambika, Sangili Murugan, Delhi Ganesh, Vinodhini, 'Munnar' Ramesh, Bala Singh, Rajkumar, Bagavathi Perumal, Sudha, Ajay Rathnam and etc and most of them were just perfect for their roles. There are interesting cameos from Nassar, Vijay Sethupathi, Nalan Kumarasamy and Vetrimaaran. Do not miss the awesome cameo sequences of Vijay Sethupathi, especially !

Natraj and Satya takes the responsibility for costume designing and they have done a very good job. The designing for Siddharth and Bobby Simhaa's costumes are noteworthy and highlighted their lifestyles, perfectly. Action choreography is handled by 'Billa' Jagan and this is one of his best works so far. There are no heavy action blocks with elaborate stunt movements, but the neatly executed action scenes, do deserve some mention. The action scenes drip with heavy violence, but they are essentials to such scripts and fulfills the demands of the story. Raju is in charge of art direction and though most of the film was shot in live locations, Raju's detailing work for the interiors of the Madurai homes, needs to be mentioned. The detailing for Karunakaran and Bobby Simhaa's home setting stands out in the first half, and the shooting spot setting for the second half were brilliant. Vivek Harshan's editing was very neatly done, and the connectivity between each sequences were just smooth, in spite of the rough and rugged nature of the sequences. Yet, he could have trimmed the film, especially in the second half which takes its own sweet time to conclude. Cinematography is by Hariharan, who was credited as Gavemic U Ary in the film. His work elevates the film's screenplay to the next level and he his outdoor and night shots, especially the rain sequence just before the intermission, was brilliant ! His lighting and color tone for the indoor shots, deserves special mention as well. The film is littered with brilliant compositions, camera movements and framing by Gavemic U Ary, and he is definitely a top class material in Tamizh cinema ! Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar's sound effects and design work was top-notch. Their work stood out in scenes which had no background score and the action sequences bears their hallmark.

Santhosh Narayanan continues his trailblazing form and once again proves that he is a wonderful talent. Most of the songs are played in the background and each one of them aptly complements the nature of the script. "Ding Dong" has montages of Siddharth and Karunakaran tracking Bobby Simhaa and serves as another perfect setting to showcase Simhaa's character's antagonistic nature. The one particular action block involving a car, has fantastic lighting work from Gavemic and an even more fantastic editing by Vivek Harshan ! "Kannamma" was shot on Siddharth and Lakshmi Menon and has montages of them getting together in love. "Baby" is a fun song which appears twice in the film and serves as a background song. "Paandi Naatu" is the only choreographed song in the film and it was shot in a deep and water drained well and had all the lead characters performing. The lighting by Gavemic was very good for this particular song and finally "Jigar" plays during the end credits. Santhosh Narayanan's background score elevates the script to another step up and the vibrant nature of his work complements the screenplay very well. The swag and quirkiness element in the background score, adds more fun quotient to the film. Way to go, Santhosh Narayanan !

What works for us in the film, is the fantastic characterization of the lead artistes and the extraction of performance from them by Karthik Subbaraj. But what's strikingly good in the film, is the quality of writing and the transfer of the output from a bounded script to a feature film. The unabashed nature of Karthik Subbaraj's script and dialogue writing deserves applause. The film does not fit into any specific genre, but still its highly entertaining with an equal amount of intelligent artistry, combining very well. The film has wonderful stretches of comedy portions and all of them are fresh, innovative, quirky yet splendidly humorous ! Also, one should take note of Karthik Subbaraj's smart writing where he cleverly insert's elements of meta-cinema and it gels well with the script's original story-line. Karthik Subbaraj makes a scathing mockery of the practices and people of current Tamizh cinema, in a very succinct manner. Karthik Subbaraj should also be applauded for his uninterrupted screenplay, though there are non-linear narration used in the film. What may irk some film-buffs is the changeover of the film's purported genre in the second half. The first half was all drama in its full glory but the second half was more of like a black comedy/dark humor satire. The transformation of Bobby Simhaa's character paved the way for the comedy quotient in the second half, but the necessity for such a changeover for that character is definitely a question mark, indeed with some cinematic liberties taken. Also, the basic plot and idea of the film has a striking similarity with the critically acclaimed 2006 Korean neo-noir gangster flick, 'A Dirty Carnival', directed by Yoo Ha. Nevertheless, 'Jigarthanda' is still one of the best films to come out in 2014 and Karthik Subbaraj's artistry and craftsmanship, must be appreciated.

'Jigarthanda' - A sip too hard to resist !


Ratings: 3.5/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL