Athomugam Review - Interesting Content That Deserved A Better Output!

Ashwin

Athomugam is a dramatic thriller with new artists playing the lead roles namely S.P.Siddharth and Chaitanya Pratap. Directed by debutant Sunil Dev.

Premise: The hero secretly downloads an app called ‘Hidden Face’ on his wife’s phone to surprise her, but he finds out some shocking events taking place at home when he is not around. How he deals and tackles the situations is the remaining story.

Writing/ Direction: It’s a film with pretty neatly written situations, the staging and the setup especially is interestingly done in such a way that the engagement factor is kept alive to an extent. Takes time to settle, yet the establishments are decently done till the interval block and the midpoint actually raises the curiosity for the latter. The core story is revealed in the second half which is again a convincing one, but the issue lies in how the central character figures out the entire game plan, the man effortlessly finds what is going on, who are all involved, etc because of the weak plot-points in these unravel portions. Also, the entire finale part that showcases how conveniently he starts seeking revenge drains out the impact. Hence even the small twists in the first half work, unfortunately the bigger picture that keeps on spilling in the later stages fail to carry that shock value. Also, the execution style feels old-school right from the beginning which was a big disturbance running at the back of the head.

Performances: Artist’s performance is equally important as the craftsman’s work, but here the dull act of S.P.Siddharth has spoiled the show to a large extent. More than anything, his dialogue delivery is very weird as he utters some mockery modulations during serious situations. Heroine Chaitanya Pratap fits for her subtle role. Nothing great to pat about the supporting artists, but they are convincing with their job, however the characterizations could have been stronger.

Technicalities: Thankfully there are no songs as speed breakers. The background score is neat, the musician has gone a little overboard without much gaps, but at least the rhythm matches the mood of the flow. Good cinematography, not a visual spectacle, but the cameraman has understood the story well and has presented the ‘Hidden Face’ app portions in a believable manner which plays a key role in the first hour of the movie. Poorly edited, so many jittery jump cuts and the black-out pattern used at many instances don’t work at all. 

Bottomline

The intent is engrossing with decent enough writing that holds the attention till a point. But the amateur direction skills with minimal production value and a terrible lead actor waters down the end-result to a huge extent.

Rating - 2.5/ 5