Indra Review - Fails to Play to its Strengths!

Ashwin Ram

Indra is a crime thriller starring Vasanth Ravi, Mehrin Pirzada and Sunilin the lead roles. Directed by debutant Sabarish Nanda.

Premise: 

Vasanth Ravi is a Police officer under suspension who suddenly becomes visually disabled because of over consumption of alcohol due to depression. Sunil, the new psycho killer in town brutally murders Vasanth Ravi’s wife, with the ongoing disability, how the hero cracks the killer and hunts him down forms the remaining story.

Writing/ Direction:

The core thrill element of the movie is strongly placed at the interval. The issue is with the world building and the backstory behind the entire chaos. Keeping booze as the reason for the protagonist’s suspension sounds right for using it as a tool a little later in the story when he turns visually impaired, but the accident sequence needed more detailing and also there is no valid explanation as to why the higher officials are not calling him back to duty after the suspension period. The emotional quotient depends on the equation between Vasanth Ravi and Mehrin Pirzada, which is poorly established and she dies right after the only happy scene in the movie between the couple. The situations around Sunil’s character is the only part that works well, set up in an organic manner and thus the interval twist lands as intended. The innocent love between Anikha Surendar and his boyfriend is significantly better, but there is nothing deep or delightful that lets us root for them. The key sequence that shapes up the surface is very thin, also lacks sufficient staging and a convincing content. Though some aspects of the revenge are logically handled, the drama barely creates any impact with a weakly written central idea. The climax is also abrupt without a clear cut closure for the life decisions made by the main characters.

Performances:

One of the better performances of Vasanth Ravi, though his overacting acts as a spoilsport at places, he shines with respect to action and when he is subtle. Dummy role for Mehrin Pirzada, already she does not carry the needed emotional baggage plus there are lip sync issues as well. Sunil owns his psycho killer character, he has brought in some sort of momentum to the first half till where his presence was required in the story. Anikha Surendar and the debut actor who plays her romantic interest are apt fits as they have delivered their best.

Technicalities:

Songs are pretty decent, but it doesn’t go an extra mile to make the montages look refreshing. Template background score of thriller flicks is maintained, quite repetitive for a bunch of sequences too. However the two separate theme tracks for the villains have got the hook factor. The cameraman has gotten hold of the mood that is necessary for the genre, his angles and establishment shots are well in sync with the situations. Disappointing work by the editor, needless for every minute of a thriller to be racy, he has not given any scope for the emotional stretches to stay and try to transform the impact to the viewers, a lot of rushed jump cuts. Full marks for the stunt choreography, even the fight sequences that take place inside a house are composed in a powerfully realistic manner.

Bottomline

The interval twist is solid, an interesting play could have been formed around that, but all we get is a typical thriller that falters with a weak backstory and a lazy display of emotions. Disappointing to see a potential material becomes a wasted opportunity.

Rating - 2/ 5