Movie Review - Masss is massively entertaining
Ghost stories aren't easy to believe. Venkat Prabhu makes the basic premise of the story believable and goes one step ahead in making us root for these ghost characters. Venkat Prabhu should be lauded for taking an empathetic viewpoint of ghosts. It is a refreshingly novel perspective amidst dime a dozen horror movies releasing every week. There lies the success of this movie.
Venkat Prabhu - Story, Screenplay and Direction
Venkat Prabhu has in some ways re-invented himself by blending the paranormal genre with his trademark commercial elements. Unlike his many other movies, Masss is very logically knit script with no signs of lazy writing. The movie has all the key elements necessary for a box office success - Horror, Comedy, Love, Revenge, Sentiments along with healthy dose of Venkat Prabhu signature quirkiness. The direction is predictably unpredictable throughout. The director's intelligent touches keep the movie very engaging. The dialogues by Venkat Prabhu and Madhan Karky are also engaging and on the mark throughout the movie.
Suriya
Suriya makes a strong comeback in a slightly unconventional genre for a star of his stature. Typically, horror genre works well for heroes with lesser star values. Suriya has broken that spell in Masss. Suriya elevates himself with his layered acting as the story progresses. Suriya performance in second half is very matured and measured. He also gets a lot of screen space contrary to the pre-release expectation. It will be a delight for fans when Suriya mouths Thala's famous mankatha dialogue right before intermission.
Casting
The casting is no surprise. It involves the usual Venkat Prabhu gang. Premgi Amaren brings smile and sympathy in his most elaborate and best role till date. Premgi has done full justice without any annoying oft-repeated "enna kodumai saar..." type dialogues. Parthiban has a brief yet important role as an investigative cop. The foundation for Nayantara's love track is well laid out in the first half. Understandably, the director couldn't exploit the full potential as Nayantara portions are left hanging at many places. Nayantara looks angelic and audience would not have complained having a few more scenes with Suriya. Pranitha performs a brief role in the flashback portions. Pranitha's jarring make-up could have been subtler. Samuthirakanni is very convincing as a villain. Karunas, Sriman, Riyaz Khan and others perform well in supporting roles.
Jai's cameo is the best in recent times and definitely one of the highlights of the movie. The scene is so purposeful with an earnest social touch. Kudos to Venkat Prabhu for his brilliant scene construction without affecting the flow of the movie.
Music and Technical Department
Yuvan Shankar Raja delivers big time with this re-recording and mixing. Yuvan keeps the tempo of the movie high throughout. Yuvan's background music is pulsating while infusing a layer of spookiness. "Piravi" and "Naan Avan Illai" are the best numbers in the movie. Both these songs have been picturized well in the movie.
For the first time, Venkat Prabhu has reluctantly switched his usual cinematographer. RD Rajasekhar, partnering with Venkat Prabhu for the first time, has elevated the production value of the movie with his stylish camerawork and lighting techniques. Venkat Prabhu gets a fresh style make-over largely attributed to the switch in camera department. Praveen's editing helps maintain the pace.
Final Word
Current Tamil movies have been gradually extending into the horror world. These recent hit movies have hedged their bets by mixing comedy into horror genre. Masss is no exception to that rule. But, what is uniquely different about Masss is Venkat Prabhu's point of view in narration with sincerity in weaving an intelligent screenplay. Suriya duly feasts on this opportunity by delivering wide range of emotions called for by Venkat Prabhu's script.
Verdict : Masssively entertaining.
Rating - 3.5/5
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