Indru Netru Naalai (Tamil, 2015)

Debutant writer-director, Ravikumar Rajendran has to be applauded for his endeavor to try something out-of-the-box. His reworking of the template made famous by the yesteryear classic, Pratap Pothen’s ‘Lucky Man’, adding basic elements of science fiction & time travel is nothing short of brilliant! The screenplay makes the content seem very cohesive & at no point does he delve into the unnecessary so-called commercial ingredients such as TASMAC songs & double entendre humor.

It is credit to the film-maker & the actors involved that they never seem to fit into the quintessential Hero-Heroine-Villain-Friend brackets. All seem to be very normal characters behaving (not acting) naturally & taking us on a whirlwind journey into their lives. Even the comic sequences involving the lost-and-found services are never jarring, coming in line with the story. Every frame shows the humungous amount of effort that must have gone in. The LIC Office, TASMAC Towers, Table fan wings decorating Karthik’s shop cum lab, Karunakaran calling the shop-kid as Atharva due to his hair-style reminding him of Paradesi, a person asking for the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft & so much more.

Vishnu Vishal has followed up his impressive 2014 selections, Jeeva & Mundasupatti with a measured role once again. Although he does not have scope to shine as a Captain of the Ship, he delivers what is required of him & is gracious enough to give screen space to his fellow supporting actors. Mia George looks gorgeous on screen & has a vital part in the proceedings. It is wonderful to see her accepting such a role (without even a duet with her pair) after a smashing debut in Amara Kaaviyam.

Karunakaran as Pulivetti Arumugam seems to be on a roll churning out impressive performances. He is a riot as the fake astrologer & yet again his timing when delivering straight-faced one-liners is top notch. Jayaprakash, T.M.Karthik & the terrifying goon Ravi Shankar (who is ironically named Kuzhandhaivelu) fit the bill perfectly.

The sound design by Sound Factor & the background score from Hiphop Tamizha are outstanding & certainly stand as strong pillars for the movie. The art direction department too makes a mark adeptly scoring in the current, future & past settings with elan. Not every film gives the scope for snazzy transitions but when provided with a Sci-Fi flick like this, Leo John Paul shows his class with the transition from present to past to present via a screen wipe looking marvelous on screen. The way the baddie is unveiled too is strikingly innovative.

The film though engaging throughout does get into a bit of melodrama mode in the birthday celebrations of Mia George that messes up the tone of the film. Some trimming there would certainly help in livening up the proceedings.