Review – Ippadai Vellum

Review

Film: Ippadai Vellum
Director : Gaurav Narayanan

Cast: Udhayanidhi Stalin, Manjima Mohan, Soori, Gaurav, Radhika Sarath Kumar, Daniel Balaji, R K Suresh, Ravi Mariyan,  Sriman and others

Music: D Imman

Cinematography: Richard M Nathan

Editor: K L Praveen

Director Gaurav Narayanan’s Ippadai Vellum is a racy action thriller.

Although the film is primarily an action thriller, it also has ample doses of  romance, comedy and drama.

Madhusudhanan or Madhu ( Udhayanidhi Stalin),  an IT professional who has just lost his job due to recession, hails from a Hindu  middle class family comprising his mother(Radhika) and two sisters. His mother is a bus driver, a job that was awarded to her on compassionate grounds after the death of her husband while in service.

Madhu is in love with Barghavi (Manjima Mohan), a Christian by religion  and the sister of a senior police officer called Dheena Sebastian ( RK Suresh). When  Dheena  gets to know  that his sister   loves a Hindu boy, he is furious.

Bhargavi, however, is adamant that  she will only marry Madhu. This  makes Dheena even more angry and he  vows to stop their wedding at any cost.

Bhargavi and Dheena plan to get married on a particular  date in secret at the Registrar’s office.

Even as this happens in the city, in another part of the country, a bomb maker and terrorist called Chotta ( Daniel Balaji) who is wanted in connection with a number of bomb blasts,  escapes from prison. He is given orders by an unidentified individual from Libya to trigger more blasts. To follow those orders, he diverts the cops into believing that he is heading to another city and makes his way to Chennai to trigger blasts  and spread terror.

He looks to enter the city by taking a lift from Kuzhanthai Velu (Soori),  a poor dubbing artiste whose wife back home in his native place is in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

However, seeing the cops screening all those looking to enter  the city, he gives  Kuzhandai Velu the slip and looks to cross the road when he meets with an accident.

Unfortunately, the car that hits him is the one that is being driven by  Madhu.

Chotta  is knocked unconscious. Madhu takes Chotta to a nearby hospital in the car. After admitting him, he slips away as he has no money to pay the hospital.  Chotta too, on regaining consciousness  escapes from the hospital.

The doctor on duty, after watching  a  TV report on Chotta calls the cops to inform them that Chotta is not in Hyderabad but in Chennai.

The police check all CCTV cameras and  begin looking for the two men — Madhu and  Velu, thinking they are his associates. They track them down and arrest them.  One of the officers handling the case is  Dheena Sebastian who is delighted that Madhu has been arrested for having links with a terrorist.

How do Madhu and Kuzhandai Velu  prove their innocence? How do they stop Chotta from triggering bomb blasts? Do Madhu and Bhargavi marry each other? Questions like these and many more are answered  by the film.

Gaurav Narayanan  has a gift for narrating stories and he narrates this story fascinatingly well. The film is racy from the minute it starts  and  Gaurav manages to keep audiences guessing and  interested in the film, right till its climax.

Udhayanidhi Stalin comes up with a very convincing performance  in this film so much so that his performance in this film is a notch better than even his performance in his best film to date — Manithan.

Manjima is absolutely at ease as Bhargavi. She has no problems playing the  role and delivers it to perfection. Soori ‘s comedy in this film works big time.  Soori and Ravi Mariyan together make the film come across as being funny.

Daniel Balaji and RK Suresh too come up with impressive  performances in the film, which has some stunning visuals by Richard.  Imman’s music is just about okay.

Everything about the film works and one is tempted to say it is flawless. But then, that is not the case. The film has one or two lapses as well.

For instance,  when the cops are tracking down  Madhu and Velu, they  are seen saying that  both have taken loans from a financier called Murugan  ( Ravi Maryan). However, while Velu is shown  taking a loan from Murugan, there is no point in the film where Madhu is seen taking a loan from Murugan.

Except for this one flaw, the film is almost perfect. This is one film that is worth every penny you pay to watch  it.