Eetti (Tamil, 2015)

Writer-Director uses a well-conceived knot to pull in the audience and weaves a pretty good tale around it laced with love, comedy and action. One of the biggest plusses of the film is the realistic dialogues which make even a grave situation seem routine. It is also nice to see the track & field events being well-captured and convincing.

5-film old Atharvaa seems to have found his space in Tamizh cinema where he is able to try untested waters as close to the mainstream format as possible. He has shown unparalleled dedication in this film too to striving to achieve the fitness that is necessary for the role. He has shown noticeable improvement in his dialogue modulation as well especially in the romantic scenes. Sri Divya also gels well with him and their love track is quite pleasant in spite of being driven by coincidences.

On the supporting characters front, Jayaprakash excels once again as the hero’s dad. The way he talks how Pugazh’s bad vices are proving to be an impediment to his success is wonderful to see. Similarly Thirumurugan, (of Kalavaani fame) in spite of a bad makeover, stands out in his role as a person who cares about the society. More than the prime villain RNR Manohar, his tall henchman Eka looks menacing in a negative role. Veteran Selva too is decent, but his role can be bracketed as a cameo appearance due to the minimal screentime.

The background score by G.V. Prakash is pulsating and adds much needed zing to the proceedings. It is appreciable that the director has taken the call to not delve into couple of probable fight sequences in the 2nd half and has just made sure of getting the climax showdown right. Kudos to the stunt choreographer too for giving a fabulous finale even though it borders on the filmy category.

Being Vetrimaaran’s assistant, comparisons to his Guru’s Polladhavan are inevitable for Ravi Arasu but the comedy track and the placement of songs make Eeti fall short of another product from the Vetrimaaran school i.e. Poriyaalan when it could have been much more.

“Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating”, says Pixar. While life itself is just a bunch of coincidences stitched together, the way the protagonist gets to be in the right place at the right, no PRECISE time brings down the element of surprise a great deal.