Director: Rajkumar Periyasamy
Cast: Gautham Karthik, Sana Makbul, Siddique
It’s Myanmar in the late 80s and Venkat (Gautham Karthik) is in Rangoon where living conditions are in a dismal state. Chronicling his early childhood, director Rajkumar paints a pretty bleak picture and an equally convincing reason for Venkat and his family to have abandoned the former capital of Myanmar and to move to our very own city of Madras (North Madras), in search of new beginnings. His dad finds work and this emboldens the young Venkat to make new friends, one of whom happens to be a guy named Kumaran.
Time passes by, and his dad sooner is no more. Venkat is a slightly ill disciplined and grownup man by now. Kumaran and another bloke named Tip Top (Daniel) are now the best buddies of Venkat, and with whom he wastes his precious life away. With a little bit of recommendation, Venkat lands a job at Gunaseelan’s (Siddique) jewellery shop, this sucks him into a web of shady underground business activity. But Venkat is nonetheless up for the challenge and deeply impresses Gunaseelan, who eventually gives him a daring job: smuggle in money from Myanmar in exchange for generous amounts of gold.
In the meantime, Venkat’s private life has been moving along and he meets Natasha (Sana,), a club singer who likewise reciprocates his love for her. So, this final job becomes a hindrance of sorts, but nonetheless, Venkat and his associates successfully reach Rangoon, get hold of the money, but finds an hitch of sorts while on their way back: the bag goes missing! In deep trouble, Guna still gives them a final chance to procure the amount one way or another, and Venkat now literally has to fight his enemies to reach an agreeable conclusion with his former employer. An unexpected twist in the tale takes place.
The main success of the film lies in its apt and brilliant casting by Rajkumar. Except Gautham and Siddhique, the entire casting is new and the director has extracted the best from each and every one including those in minuscule role.
Gautham Karthik has gone on an impressive transformation in terms of looks as well portrayal. He simply floors you off with his realistic and powerful act. He also shines in stunt sequences. Sana Makbul looks pleasant, although though she does not have much scope to perform. Siddhique as the smooth operating businessman proves that he is a veteran with his versatile acting. The actors who perform Gautham’s friends do their part well.
With a solid content, authentic detailing, well written characters, unexplored area, realistic approach, clean screenplay, enthralling action blocks by Anbariv, soothing songs by Vikram and engaging background score by Vishal Chandrashekar, and dazzling cinematography by Anish Tarun Kumar, Rajkumar Periyasamy’s (protege of AR Murugadoss) Rangoon is a gritty thriller that’s worth a watch!
