Manigandan KR
Chennai, 02 Jun 2017 15:04 IST
Director Taj seems to have scored in several departments starting from story, screenplay, direction and casting.
After having established the fact that he is a good cinematographer, Natraj Subramanian (Natty) is now proving that he is a bankable actor as well. Not just that, he’s also showing the world that he is a good script doctor too.
Yes, every script that he seems to have picked has worked, one way or the other, and Bongu too is no different. In short, Bongu does what one expects it to do. It entertains and entertains thoroughly.
The film begins with Dev (Natty), Janani (Ruhi Singh) and Baskar (Arjun) desperately looking for jobs in car showrooms. They are turned down everywhere as they have been blacklisted by the industry for no fault of theirs.
As they wonder what to do next, a friend Babu (Rajan) takes them to Bai, the head of a car stealing gang. Bhai says he will offer them work if they can prove that they have in them what it takes to steal a car. To test them, he asks them to flick a costly foreign car that is parked on the heavily guarded premises of a jewellery store.
The team succeeds. They flick the car and to their surprise, find that a huge sum of black money has also been stashed away in it. While flicking this car, they also befriend, Mani (Munishkanth), a simpleton who is honest. On getting to know that the team is into stealing cars, Mani chides them.
It is then that the trio reveal why they have been blacklisted by firms selling cars and how fate has pushed them into turning thieves. The flashback begins with Dev recalling the happy lives the three were leading as car salespersons. The happy times continue until the day an MP turns up to book a costly Rolls Royce car for his daughter as her birthday gift. After making the payment in full, the politician asks the firm to deliver the car to his daughter at home. Just as Dev and Baskar are in the process of delivering the new vehicle, they are waylaid by a bunch of armed robbers, who steal the costly car at gunpoint.
The company files a police complaint and eventually, the police, unable to track the robbers, pins the crime on the three salespersons delivering the car. The net result is that Dev and Baskar end up in prison. On being released from prison, they are unable to find jobs, thanks to their reputation being tarnished.
On hearing their story, Mani is moved and eventually joins them wholeheartedly. He discloses that the car that they flicked from the jewellery store is actually that of a feared don in Madurai called Pandian.
Meanwhile, pleased with their work, Bai offers them more work. And guess what? Their next assignment is to flick ten foreign cars, all of which again belong to Pandian. The challenge this time will be to flick them from Madurai, Pandian’s stronghold. The team decides to take up this mission and heads to Madurai.
When the team gets down to work, Dev finds out that one of the cars that they are about to steal is the very same car that was stolen from them when they were about to deliver it to the MP's daughter. Dev decides to dig deeper and more skeletons tumble out of the cupboard. The team now decides to take revenge on Pandian for having ruined their careers. How they do it is what the film is all about.
Natty as Dev is just awesome. He comes across as a confident leader, who can quickly outthink his rivals. Arjun as Baskar provides both comical relief and also crucial support to the plot. Munishkanth as Mani plays a simpleton yet again in this film, but he does it with so much flair that it is hardly boring.
Ruhi Singh as Janani is just perfect. She neither overplays nor is she found wanting in any of the sequences in the film. One other person whose work deserves a huge round of applause is that of Chaams. The comedian appears for just 10 to 15 minutes in the second half but steals the show by a big margin. His sense of timing and his punch lines are perfect and leave the audience roaring with laughter.
Director Taj seems to have scored in several departments starting from story, screenplay, direction and casting. No wonder then that Bongu is an entertaining watch!