Director: SJ Suryah
Cast: SJ Suryah, Sathyaraj, Savithri, Jayaprakash, Thambi Ramaiah
Rating: 3.5 stars
After several delays and hiccups, Isai, the much anticipated flick of SJ Suryah finally saw the light of the day. But, the wait was well worth it, for Suryah has come out with a riveting out-of-the-box thriller with engrossing music and himself taking the avatar of a music composer with consumable ease.
Vetriselvan (Sathyaraj) is a well known conventional music composer who is respected for his astounding works and termed as the musical genius of our times. A.K Shiva (Suryah) assists Vetriselvan and he is part of the latter’s team. One day, an opportunity to score independently for a small budget flick knocks at Shiva’s doors. When he seeks his guru’s permission, Vetri doesn’t resist and gladly gives his nod, as least he would have imagined that one day his ‘sishyan’ Shiva would outshine him in the musical world. Shiva uses modern techniques and software and his trendy scores in his debut album catch the attention of music buffs. Soon, he becomes the sought after musician and reaches the ‘numero uno’ slot. He also builds his own state-of-the art studio. When Shiva surpasses Vetri, he is in no mood to take it lightly. To rebound his lost stardom, an ego-centric Vetri hatches a plot to brand Shiva as an inept composer. Whether Shiva overcomes the odds and bounces back forms the rest of this film which culminates into a startling climax.
Veteran Sathyaraj has come out with a splendid life time performance. He once again proves his versatility, given a solid script. Suryah is equally impressive and shines with his inimitable dialogue delivery. Since, Isai is all about music, as a composer also, his music be it songs or BGM, he delivers brilliantly. Then there is this Jenny (debutant Savithri) the romantic interest of Shiva who looks ravishing and fits the bill. All the other cast including Jayaprakash, Thambi Ramaiah, Ganja Karuppu and MS Bhaskar with author backed roles lend their solid support. Though most part of the screenplay is taut, at times it becomes predictable and drags. But post interval there’s never a dull moment and especially the last 30 minutes, it is director Suryah’s intelligently woven brave attempt that enthralls the audiences keeping them hooked to their seats. Cinematographer
Soundarrajan should be lauded for capturing the right mood of the film with his alluring lighting compositions. A bit of trimming would have helped. Nevertheless, with Isai , Suryah sends out a strong message that ‘he is back with bang’!
