Review: Tamiluku En Ondrai Aluthavum is not exciting

Despite the intriguing plot, Tamiluku En Ondrai Aluthavum has none of the edge-of-your-seat moments that would have made it exciting, writes S Saraswathi.

Ramprakash Rayappa, who has worked with director Saravanan of Engeyum Eppodhum fame, makes his directorial debut with Tamiluku En Ondrai Aluthavum (For Tamil, Press One). 

The film revolves around a series of interconnected events involving different characters, all dependent on the connectivity of the mobile network, and hence the interesting title.

Presented by Udhayanidhi Stalin's Red Giant Movies, the film features Attakathi Dinesh, Nakul, Sathish, Bindu Madhavi and newcomer Aishwarya Dutta.

At the start of the film, a voice-over reveals the plot of the film.

Workers at a construction site are trying to lift a massive 83-ton block of stone to the top of a multi-storey building when the crane begins to give way. 

The stone is precariously balanced midway as the cables begin to snap one by one. Right below this enormous stone, unknown to anyone, Simi (Bindu Madhavi) is trapped under some construction material. 

Some distance away, a terrorist has placed a mobile controlled explosive in a hired taxi parked in the basement of a government office. He is hiding in the vicinity, waiting to make the call that will take a hundred lives.  

But at the precise moment when the stone is about to plunge to the bottom and the terrorist is making his call, all connectivity is lost. 

The film goes into flashback and we learn why Simi is trapped, how the bomb came to be placed inside the taxi, and the mystery behind the network problems. 

Despite the intriguing plot, the film has none of the edge-of-your-seat moments that would have made it exciting.

The principal characters, especially Vasanth (Nakul) and Mukhil (Dinesh) do little to keep you engaged.

Nakul plays the boring but brilliant scientist Vasanth while Dinesh is an over-enthusiastic flat promoter. Dinesh seems to have trouble coming out of his Cuckoo hangover. Both appear rather eccentric and too mechanical to be true. 

Bindu Madhavi, who is cast opposite Dinesh, looks lovely.

Bengali beauty Aishwarya Dutta plays a dumb engineering student, who buys her college project from Vasanth and ends up falling in love with his brilliance.

The most engaging character is surprisingly the taxi driver played by Sathish. He has a substantial role and keeps the audience entertained with his funny one-liners.

Urvashi, who plays the tech-savvy mother of Vasanth, is lively and fun, adding some energy to the narrative. 

Director Ramprakash has come up with a good idea, but the performance is poor, the romance seems forced, there are too many coincidences and a lame, predictable climax. This spoils what could have been a racy and exciting thriller.

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