Chennaiyil Oru Naal Movie Review - An earnest attempt

by Raven

‘Chennaiyil Oru Naal’ is the remake of Malayalam film ‘Traffic’, which was critically acclaimed and attained commercial success as well. The movie is based on a real life incident that happened in Chennai. The movie has an ensemble cast of Sarathkumar, Cheran, Prakash Raj, Prasanna, Mithun Thejasvi, Raadhika Sarathkumar, Parvathi Menon and Iniya. It is very heartening to see these many stars coming together to remake a quality movie.

The Plot

The movie is based on a real life incident in which the heart of a boy, who is brain dead, is transferred to a girl who is battling for her life. To make the movie more entertaining, some cinematic ingredients are added without diluting the main theme. Traffic Police Commissioner Sundara Paniyan (Sarath Kumar), a traffic constable Sathya Moorthy (Cheran), a doctor Robin (Prasanna) and many others are involved in the high risk operation of covering 170 Kms in 1.5 hours. The movie follows a hyperlink screenplay structure, where several plots seamlessly merge into the central plot.

Performances

Cheran yet again scores with his measured performance. He underplays his expressions and that has made his character look more realistic. Sarathkumar is very apt in the commanding role of Police Commissioner and he pulls off a good show. Prakash Raj shows his range of expressions and impresses the audience, while Raadhika comes good in the emotional scenes.

Prasanna, Mithun, Parvathi Menon, Jayaprakash, Lakshmi Ramakrishnan and Iniya are adequate in their limited scoped roles. Suriya has done a cameo towards the end and he must be appreciated for supporting a good film.

Technicalities

Mejo Joseph’s music has played a vital part in the film. Although the introductory song looks unwarranted, both the songs that appear in the film are hummable. The background score fits into the scenes aptly. Cinematography by Shehnad Jalal is praise-worthy. He has done a commendable job in canning the fast paced car sequences. Careful and slick editing by Mahesh Narayanan has made it easy for audience to follow the hyperlink storytelling format. The movie’s running length is less than 2 hours, which makes it a slick watch.

Script and Direction

Highs

• Director Shaheed Khader has tried to stay true to the original and has carefully made the movie with a huge star cast, extracting good performances from everyone.
• Although there is huge scope for melodrama setting in, the director has walked the tight rope intelligently and has avoided that.
• Script writers Bobby -Sanjay  and dialogue writer Ajayan Bala must be appreciated for conveying a message with powerful dialogues and interesting storyline.

Lows

• The movie starts off on a low note, taking time to set up the premise.

• At times, some of the scenes look unrealistic and the car sequences get a tad repetitive towards the end.

Bottomline

‘Chennaiyil Oru Naal’ is an earnest attempt by the entire cast and crew to make a meaningful film about organ donation.

Rating – 3 / 5