Imaikkaa Nodigal (2018)

IMMAIKAA NODIGAL is written and directed by Ajay Gnanamuthu of Demonte Colony fame and is produced by CJ Jayakumar. IN generated quite a favourable buzz with an interesting and intelligent title.

The “thrill” genre created more curiosity for the film alongwith the casting of Nayanthara.

It is with raised eyebrows that you see the censor certificate as it screams “170” minutes. A psycho thriller running for 170 minutes?Few minutes into the film you realize that the movie is an adaptation of a popular hollywood film and the movie wastes no time in keeping the viewer glued. Sadly only for a few minutes and an abrupt shift takes place making you wonder if you have shifted to another screen for another movie.Yes, the predictable merging of stories happens and as you kind of adjust yourself, there comes another story as a flashback that becomes the “mother”of these two stories. In the end we have a movie that is neither here nor there and suffers from a bad screenplay and execution.

Nayanthara plays her role with nonchalance offerring nothing extra, Atharva continues from where he left in his last film, Rashi Khanna does not fit as his love interest, Anurag Kashyap need not worry about his future as a film maker as he makes a decent impression as the villain. Vijay Sethupathi in a cameo does nothing new.

R.D. Rajasekhar’s experience is a major plus for the film and is wonderfully shot. Hip Hop Thamizha’s songs are as jumpy as they always are and dont make any impact. Editing by Bhuvan is lethargic. Dialogues are decent. Direction is average.

IMMAIKAA NODIGAL ends up as a movie that is cooked by (two) many cooks. You never know what went behind the scenes but this film looks like one that was conceived differently and delivered contrarily. IK at 170 minutes is a challenge to stay awake.