Review: Imaikka Nodigal

Review:
Film: Imaikka Nodigal
Director: Ajay Gnanamuthu
Cast: Atharvaa, Nayanthara, Anurag Kashyap, Rashi Khanna, Vijay Sethupathi and others
Music: Hip Hop Tamizha
Cinematography: R D Rajasekhar

Ajay Gnanamuthu’s Imaikaa Nodigal is an intense contest between a CBI officer and a criminal. The interesting part is that the CBI official has a criminal past and the criminal has a cop’s history.

Rudra (Anurag Kashyap), a kidnapper who also happens to be a psychopath, is on the prowl. And the task of nabbing him is assigned to CBI officer Anjali (Nayanthara), a widow with a young child. Rudra is unique in the sense he gives adequate notice to cops and CBI officers before effecting a kidnapping. The authorities are unsure if it is indeed the real Rudra as they believe they had taken care of him a few years ago. Nevertheless, as the kidnappings and the killings begin to happen, the authorities have no option but to take his threats seriously.

Even as this is happening, Anjali’s brother Arjun (Atharvaa), a doctor by profession, is coming to terms with ending his relationship with his girlfriend, Krithika(Rashi Khanna), a visual communications student. Both are madly in love but with Krithika’s colleague also proposing to her, suspicion creeps into Arjun’s mind and he eventually confronts her with facts. The result is that the two decide to break up.

At one point, Rudra picks his next target as Krithika. He kidnaps her and demands a huge ransom for her. However, this time, he sends Arjun to pick up the money and eventually tries to give the authorities the impression that Arjun is Rudra. Anjali is shocked to see her brother attempting to collect the ransom money. She knows there is foul play. As she begins to investigate, she realises that a segment of her past has now come to haunt her…

Ajay Gnanamuthu has an interesting plot and succeeds in making a decent effort at narrating it in a thrilling fashion. The first hour of the film is really thrilling as the cop and the criminal play the cat and mouse game with grace and audacity. However, boredom begins to set in during the next hour, as several gaping holes in logic begin to appear.

For instance, Atharvaa, who is arrested by cops after having been shot by Anjali (who, incidentally, is relieved of her charge by the cops after getting to know that the suspect is her brother) happily talks to his friends at the hospital which is supposed to be swarming with cops. He even manages to escape and that too, with minimal effort.This is too cinematic to evoke any sense of excitement. Such lapses dent the credibility of the whole story and as a result, induce a sense of boredom.

On the brighter side, the film has fantastic performances coming in from Anurag Kashyap, Nayanthara, Atharvaa, Rashi Khanna and Vijay Sethupathi. Anurag Kashyap, in particular, is brilliant. He plays the role of Rudra with such flourish that you actually are excited at the CBI having to take on a real criminal, who is worth his salt. One only hopes to see Anurag more often in Tamil cinema, which will stand to benefit immensely if it puts his skills to good use.

Nayanthara looks elegant, confident and in control. She delivers a neat performance, yet again. This time, the actress seems to have taken pains to sport a new hair style and it works big time.

Atharvaa, who is an immensely talented youngster and who is waiting for the right break after Eeti, has latched on to this film with both hands and made best use of the opportunity to showcase his acting skills. He impresses as the young doctor in love and as the desperate lover craving for the return of his soul. Vijay Sethupathi, only makes a brief appearance as Anjali’s husband, but ends up stealing the hearts of audiences’ within the few minutes that he has on screen.

Imaikkaa Nodigal is an interesting thriller with quite a number of twists and turns. If you have three hours to spare, this isn’t a bad option to pick!