Scientists at ISRO make a startling discovery of a meteorite on a collision course with Earth and are confident that its impact zone is somewhere in South India and probably in Tamil Nadu. While they make frantic efforts to create awareness and prepare for the aftermath, a small unassuming village – Appuchi Graamam feels the heat as they brace themselves of the impending doom that would befall the impact zone of the meteorite. The emotions that the village goes through before the celestial event are captured to form the rest of the story.
Language:
Tamil
Running Time:
118 min
Rating:
U
Release date:
14 November 2014
Directed by:
Vi Anand
Produced by:
Vishnu Muralee
V. Senthil Kumar
Written by:
Vi Anand
Starring:
Praveen Kumar
Anusha Naik
Swasika
Vigneswaran
G. M. Kumar
Joe Malloori
Ganja Karuppu
SingamPuli
Music by:
Vishal Chandrasekar
Shot by:
G. K. Prasad
Editing by:
Zashi Qmer
Distributed by:
Eye Catch Multimedia

What’s Hot

  • Debutant Praveen Kumar enacts a typical village youngster to perfection and his romantic episodes with Sandalwood import Anusha Naik is particularly refreshing and natural with great support from the music department courtesy some simple and minimalistic sounds from Vishal that lay more emphasis on the lyrics.
  • Singampuli makes a different appearance as one of the few educated people of the village and ‘Avan Ivan’ fame, G. M. Kumar and ‘Kumki’ fame, Joe Malloori have impressed again with their respective roles as the village headmen who are involved in constant squabbles. Ganja Karuppu as a stingy and greedy man manages to evoke a few laughs as well.
  • Though the story is that of a typical village romance peppered with cliched rivalry between two powerful families, the much needed ingenuity is infused by the backdrop of the impending meteorite crash which could eventually wipe out the village. This changes the course of action of each individual in the village, creating different possibilities resulting from the emotional turnarounds they suffer – and all this told in under 2 hours, deserving a good applause.
  • Cinematography by G. K. Prasad lifts the level of the visual experience to complement the sci-fi background of the movie, especially during the climax section which produces some brilliant visuals in coherence with equally proficient special effects. The overall visual output is neat and suits the village setup

What’s Not

  • The movie slackens during the latter portions building up the climax due to the overload of sentimental scenes which burdens the screenplay with more baggage than it can carry. Though the inhabitants’ attachment to the village cannot be undermined, their blind sentiments in the face of a natural disaster are and cannot be justified to provide such prominence.
  • The director could have at-least made an attempt to indulge more on the scientific front regarding the actions being taken by the government agencies to avert the disaster. Even the very few scenes touching that are muted out in a bid to increase the suspense and is broken only in the climax, which is disappointing.

Badges

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

Appuchi Graamam is just like any other ordinary village that you will see – but an extraordinary situation, forces it to change on its head and its story when captured in a good mix of an interesting master plot, decent performances and an impressively short run time, makes for a brilliant on-screen presentation! This is one village you won’t regret visiting!!