333. Kolaigaran; movie review

KOLAIGARAN
Cert 15
109 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, injury detail

This is more like it - a thriller which grabs its audience from its opening scene and keeps them guessing until the very end.
Andrew Louis has only previously directed one film and that was seven years ago - that's a pity because I am sure he could have made a huge impact if this is indicative of the standard of his work.
Suspense is present from the opening scene in which a woman's throat is cut by an unknown assailant.
The movie then alights upon a mystery murder which links a nervous young woman (Ashima Narwal), her mother (Seetha) and their neighbour (Vijay Antony).
The investigation is led by a deep-thinking detective (Arjun Sarja) who is looking beyond the easy answers.
He finds himself having to work out why the two women seldom leave their apartment and why their neighbour follows the daughter out every time she does.
He is not the only one baffled by his actions - her friends fear that he may be a stalker.
Meanwhile, the police are also having to identify and do background checks on a charred body found on wasteground.
Anyway, it adds up to a riveting movie with plenty of twists and turns and a finale which I would defy anyone to predict.
Indeed, its combination of mystery and suspense impressed me most about Kolaigaran.
I needed a tad more character exploration to rate it as one of the movies of the year because I needed to be invested more in them and its overly melodramatic music did my head in.
Nevertheless, it is a very worthwhile thriller.

Reasons to watch: Genuine mystery thriller
Reasons to avoid: It's melodramatic music 

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8/10

Did you know? Kolaigaran is based on the 2008 Japanese movie Suspect X which was an adaptation of the Japanese novel The Devotion of Suspect X

Final word. Vijay Antony: "There’s nothing dark about Kolaigaran. We are exploring the other side of human nature. That’s it. And, I don’t have any apprehensions of playing such characters." The Hindu

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