Saga from a middle class family has three close friends at college, each of them having an affluent background. They decide to prolong their student life by skipping their exams – an act that proves how much they value their friendship despite Saga being under pressure to get a job and be less of a burden on his family. Saga finds his love too, but the happiness is short lived as all his comes crashing down at the dawn of a new year, some loose words in the heat of the moment being the reason. His survival and his friendship are on the line as he races against time to wriggle out of this predicament.
Language:
Tamil
Running Time:
151 min
Rating:
U/A
Release date:
26 June 2015
Directed by:
Sathya Prabhas Pinisetty
Produced by:
Ravi Raja Pinisetty
Written by:
Sathya Prabhas Pinisetty
Starring:
Aadhi
Nikki Galrani
Mithun Chakraborty
Pasupathy
Richa Pallod
Nassar
Ramaraju
Music by:
Prasan Praveen Shyam
Shot by:
N Shanmugasundaram
Editing by:
VJ Sabu Joseph
Distributed by:
Global United Media

What’s Hot

  • The movie reaps the benefits of apt casting of the support cast given the story is not focussed on one person, instead features equal screen space for most of them. Aadukalam Naren, Lakshmi Priya Chandramouli, Pragathi, Mithun Chakraborthy, Pasupathy and Richa Pallod feature in the ensemble cast with each of them playing crucial roles that work together to maintain the momentum of the story being told.
  • The story, though claims to be based on a true incident, has been developed quite well into a commercially viable package. A strong depiction of selfless friendship and its spoils holds the core while layers of sentiment, deception, anger and revenge are coated on top of it to give a solid product which is bound to entertain the viewers.
  • The icing on the cake is the brilliant characterizations in the movie – Aadhi as Saga who values his friends who redefine his life is so relatable, Nikki Galrani makes hearts wobble with her cheerful attitude as Aadhi’s girlfriend and Pragathi as the innocent mother of Aadhi is quite funny. The important aspect of all characters with negative shades portrayed is that their soft corners are given more of the spotlight, which is heart-wrenching to say the least.
  • Prasan Praveen Shyam who is in charge of the Music department has not done something unique, nevertheless his efforts suit the movie’s need – a bunch of peppy numbers and a strong background score to keep up the suspenseful mood. He plays safe, sticks to the basics without experimenting too much and makes it across the line with minimal fuss.

What’s Not

  • The screenplay leaves a lot of un-imaginative impressions such as the priority given to the fun-filled Aadhi-Nikki romantic portion which takes up almost the entirety of the first half and turns out to be an event in the movie that doesn’t influence in any manner the serious core being discussed. It ends up splitting the movie experience into two drastically different halves.
  • Sathya Prabhas Pinisetty’s intentions as the director throws up questions when we see the most obvious instances of the narrative are ignored when told and later brought back in the climax as twists. An example being the circumstances around the crime in focus which is conveniently skipped enough to frame the accused. Though it might add unpredictability, it looks more of misleading the audience.
  • Too many characters are filled within the cramped story plot. Pasupathy’s brother, The fathers of the Aadhi’s friends including Nasser who is grossly underutilized, Kitty as a silent assistant to Mithun Chakraborthy – are all victims to such overloaded character inclusions.
  • The climax is a touch too dragging despite the final twist revealed a good 10 minutes prior to the ending. Seems more of a distraction to include cinematically infused slow-mo stunts while highlighting the bond of friendship above life. Worse is that the sequences remind us of the famous interval block of Nadodigal involving similar sentiments of friendship.

Badges

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

‘Yaagavarayinum Naa Kaaka’ is a movie with a decent core story on friendship faced with unfortunate circumstances, which is provided a topsy-turvy treatment. In one line, YNK is an extrapolated on-screen depiction of Superstar Rajni’s popular dialogue: 'Anger is the cause of all miseries; one should know how to control it. Otherwise life would become miserable' – A bittersweet presentation at that!