Dhuruvangal Padhinaaru movie review: Well executed, taut thriller, despite flaws
Director: Karthik Naren
Cast: Rahman, Prakash, Delhi Ganesh, Anjana
At a time when mindless masala in the name of commercial films occupy the centre stage of Tamil cinema, here comes a refreshingly slick whodunnit murder mystery ‘Dhuruvangal Padhinaaru’ by 22-year-old debutant Karthik Naren.
The movie opens up with a retired and crippled police officer Deepak (Rahman) recalling his unsolved murder case to a young and aspiring cop at his Ooty bungalow. Six years ago, it was a dark rainy night in Kovai and an accident takes place which was later informed to inspector Deepak as a suicide.
Deepak along with young constable Gautam takes charge of the case and while investigating, he finds out it was actually a murder. There are a few witnesses, which lead to more clues.
Even as he probes this, there’s a call, which says that a girl Shruti is missing from her apartment, where there are traces of blood on the wall. Deepak feels that there’s a strange link between the two cases and also makes remarkable headway towards the culprit. But a nasty accident leaves him handicapped and Gautam slips into a coma. Cut to present, an unexpected twist takes place.
‘Dhruvangal Padhinaaru’ is not a film with an out-of-the-box theme. But Karthik’s fresh treatment and extraordinary execution without much confusion and logical loopholes (barring the pre-climax gun trotting fight scene when we are not able to make out who is hitting whom) makes it stand out.
Seasoned actor Rahman suits the role of a police officer perfectly and shines in all aspects, be it his body language, his unique bold voice or nerve-wrecking attitude.
All others are newcomers and Karthik has extracted the best from them. Jakes Bejoy’s arresting music (sometimes even without it) creates the right mysterious mood and Sujith Sarang’s cinematography has almost become a character, aiding the narration superbly. Despite negligible drawbacks, 'Dhuruvangal Padhinaaru' is a well-executed taut thriller worth a watch.
