Kolaigaran Movie Review: Vijay Antony And Arjun Face Off In A So-So Murder Mystery With So-So Twists

Language: Tamil

Cast: Vijay Antony, Arjun

Director: Andrew Louis

Who is the woman in the high rise, at the beginning of Kolaigaran, who ends up with her throat slit? We have to wait till the end of the film for an answer, but in the meantime, a charred corpse is discovered and Prabhakaran (Vijay Antony) owns up to the crime. So wait! When we are given the identity of the killer so early in a murder mystery, is he really the killer? Very soon, more cards appear on the table. We get a couple of people who may be accomplices: Prabhakaran's neighbour Dharini (Ashima Narwal) and her mother (Seetha). We get a motive: the victim was a stalker, harassing Dharini. So what's left for DCP Karthikeyan (Arjun Sarja) to uncover? That's the riddle at the heart of this movie, written and directed by Andrew Louis.

Take away the two appalling duets (one of them appearing even before the characters are properly introduced), and you have one of those middling films that make you say "Oh, you know, it was okay…" The first half is dully made, but things perk up with a big, fat twist during the interval portion. There's a very creepy stalker subplot (it involves eavesdropping on neighbours) that's hardly addressed, but the investigation and the guessing games keep you watching. Composer Simon K King jolts us periodically with a synth blast repeated thrice, in quick succession. I didn't buy the big reveal at the end, but the nature of the genre makes middling mysteries more watchable than middling romances or middling dramas or middling star vehicles. Kolaigaran needed a few more drafts to punch up the emotional content, but even as is, you walk out not wanting to kill anyone. That, I guess, is a small sign of success for a murder mystery.