Yaman (Tamil, 2017)

The maker of Naan & Amarakaaviyam, JeevaSankar once again shines by giving us a script that is interesting while at the same time playing to the gallery enough to bring in the masses. Each of his characters possess a niche trait and are provided a space to perform. Every part is etched out with a clean back story; revealed when necessary via montages, dialogues and not a lazy voice over.

In spite of possessing limited acting ability, Vijay Antony keeps pushing the envelope one film at a time. Here too he chooses a role with grey shades but also tries to fight, dance and spout some commercial whistle-worthy dialogues. While his dancing needs improvement, he does function quite well in the other areas pulling people to admire the growth of this star-in-the-making.

Thyagarajan as Karunakaran ,the calculative kingmaker whose only dream is to make it big in politics, distinguishes himself with his non-chalant acting. He never lifts a weapon but bids his time awaiting the right moment for administer the killer strike. Thangapandi on the other hand, played by Aroul D Shankar, is the man to look out for. Apart from working on his looks, the basic hot headed goon trait that he maintains till the end is noteworthy.

Vijay Antony chooses these impeccable parts that have a meek undertone eventually giving way to the heroic, clever guy. However he still needs to work on his minute expressions, lest being tagged to a template. Mia George on the other hand is under-utilized and immensely dumbed-down.

The Kadavul Ezhuthum song follows the known “song-after-this-set-piece” template of Tamil cinema and yet does not blend in. Attribute it to the wanky music, or background dancers going tutu around the actors or leads trying to romance, it just doesn’t fit.