Jiivi Review - Barely uncompromised and authentic!

Akash

With the rising number of crime thrillers and action dramas, after quite a while, it seems like a convincing movie based on probabilities, Karma and connectivity has come by. Jiivi, directed by VJ Gopinath has actors Vetri, Karunakaran, Mime Gopi and others in important roles. To this, there is also a crime drama angle and both these sub-genres are touched upon parallely in this film with a tight run-time. Why is Jiivi one of the better thrillers of today?

Jiivi starts off with a very usual narration of the hero played by Vetri about himself and his life and also addresses his problem of being poor. Now this though a very usual beginning has nothing that is away from the plot of the story. In fact, the director has just gone in for a very simple method to explain the characterizations. Karunakaran plays Vetri’s friend and both of them live in an apartment which also has another family. What happens when the two decide to rob their neighbours with a fully chalked out plan forms the rest of the story.

Though this is the actual brief of the plot, the movie deals with a lot of interesting points like connections between two generations, the karma effect and also explores the importance of reading books and always getting ready to learn things that we are yet to know about. These are not only educative but also add as brownie points to this crime thriller film making it a very fresh watch in majority sequences.

As for the casting, the lead actor Vetri as the hero does not exceedingly outperform the other actors but his character does not seem to demand much more and somehow he copes up throughout the film. The stone faced reactions, dialogue delivery and other factors seem apt for his role. Karunakaran does a good job as his friend and has a vital role in the film. Monica plays Vetri’s love interest and she is the conventional heroine who has nothing much to do with the plot. Mime Gopi is impressive in the latter half and the entire family that forms for the neighbours who get robbed are perfectly cast on point. Be it the mother, the blind daughter or even the father, they have done a good job.

Some of the mention worthy elements of the film Jiivi include the dialogues, naturally written scenes, incidents, the way the second half comes along with the connectivities and specifically the pre-climax and climax block. The twist that reveals itself in the last 20 minutes will gather a good applause from one and all and it does not even seem like the usual plot turner. Just a naturally placed, well worked out portion one would say. Another factor is the idea of curiosity and the entire concept explored in the second half that stands tall.

Technically Jiivi does not have an outstanding offing. The music was quite good but the song in the first half between the leads seemed unnecessary just like in many other similar attempted films. Edit by Praveen KL was sufficient to convey the conflicts and the story and so was the background score. Even the budget constraints did not seem an issue and this can be something the team is happy about as they have given an above average technical product with a decent making.

Overall Jiivi is that film which might pleasantly surprise you with a lot of good elements throughout and especially in the connections that it has successfully set out to achieve in its latter half. There will be enjoyable high points and the dialogues are a big advantage as they keep the intelligent audiences hooked and also have a lot of finesse in the pure Tamil verses and philosophical lines used here and there. Otherwise too, Jiivi is a very engaging film for all those who look out for a ‘not very alien’ yet interestingly different sort of a film. A genuinely smart film from director VJ Gopinath and Big Print Pictures.

Bottomline:

Jiivi is a well written crime drama with some very interesting elements in conjunction for all audiences to enjoy!

Rating: 3/5