Recent debuts from promising film-makers have more often been the cinema that tries to move away from the beaten commercial track. But given proper treatment and a respect for the audience’s intelligence a regular commercial plot can be made extremely entertaining. Debutant Anand Shankar’s Arima Nambi belongs to the latter category.

Cast:

Vikram Prabhu makes another smart choice in his blooming career. As the no nonsense youngster who is always thinking ahead he makes an impression. Priya Anand is an eye candy and carries herself in rather dangerously plunging necklines. M.S. Bhaskar comes up with a brilliant show as the sincere police officer in a rather short role. J.D. Chakravarthy as the cold blooded politician who means business is a smart choice.

Crew:

R. D. Rajasekhar’s frames spell class throughout. Except the fact that the film does not feature any real huge star, it has all the look and feel of a big budget actioner. Debutan Bhuvan Srinivasan’s editing is spot on. Apart from the mandatory songs you cannot recollect a redundant scene in the film. Sivamani’s songs are passable. He makes a richer impression with his background score. The stunts are slick, believable and pack a punch.

Direction:

Anand Shankar has hit the bulls-eye in his first feature film. He has his finger on the pulse of the audience right from the word go. There are cinematic liberties taken. The scene where the hero casually walks into a police restricted zone in a public media office could have been taken care of. But such instances are few and definitely not something that glaringly show. With a runtime of two and a half hours it takes skill to keep the momentum running. The villain is revealed before the interval and you also know who will emerge victorious at the end. Yet the second half keeps you thoroughly engaged with ample twists and turns. There is this undercurrent heroism running throughout the film and the maker has cleverly not tried to fiddle more with it to employ a larger than life image. This vulnerability of the lead man is what keeps things extremely interesting till the end. Did the film need an item number? That is for the trade pundits to answer.

Bottomline:

We often crave for that actioner which perfectly blends cinematic liberties with reasonable amount of intelligence. This recipe often spells blockbusters and debutant Anand Shankar’s Arima Nambi gets it right for the most part.

Verdict

Rating : 3.25/5

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