Imaikkaa Nodigal review: A gripping thriller with a few loopholes

R Ajay Gnanamuthu, who made an impressive debut in Tamil cinema with his supernatural thriller, Demonte Colony (2015), comes up with an intense action-thriller in Imaikkaa Nodigal. However, the expertise with which Gnanamuthu handled Demonte Colony seems to be missing this time around.

Imaikkaa Nodigal is about a dangerous game played between Rudra (Anurag Kashyap), a versatile and confident kidnapper-cum-murderer, and Anjali (Nayanthara), one of the best officers at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). What sets Rudra apart from the other criminals is that he is so confident of his skills and intelligence that he throws an open challenge to the authorities before committing a crime. So, every time he plans to kidnap and murder someone, he gives the CBI a heads up.

Despite his intimations, the CBI is still unable to thwart any of the crimes he commits. In fact, they even struggle to track him down. This is partly because the authorities are unsure about his identity. They believe that this criminal can't be Rudra as they have already taken care of him years ago. As a result, the victims who are kidnapped die.

Investigation officer Anjali, a widow with a young child, has her back to the wall. It is at this time, that Rudra chooses his next victim - Krithika (Raashi Khanna), ex-girlfriend of Anjali's younger brother Arjun (Atharvaa) who is a doctor by profession. Althought Arjun and Krithika have parted ways, Arjun is yet to come to terms with the fact that their relationship has ended.

Nevertheless, Rudra succeeds in kidnapping Krithika. But it is then that Anjali is in for a rude shock. Rudra doesn't come for the ransom money himself. He sends Arjun to pick it up and thereby tries to give the authorities the impression that it is Arjun who is actually Rudra. Anjali knows there is foul play and as she begins to investigate, the plot thickens. She realises that a segment of her past has now come to haunt her again.

R Ajay Gnanamuthu has an interesting story to tell. But the problem is he only partly succeeds in narrating it well. The first-hour long film film is really gripping as the best in the business play a deadly hide and seek game with grace and audacity to see who emerges the winner of this duel of death. However, boredom begins to set in after that as too many exaggerated sequences are pushed in.

Sample this. Arjun is shot by Anjali while trying to collect the ransom. He is arrested by cops and taken to a hospital. Anjali, meanwhile, is relieved of the case by the authorities after getting to know that the suspect is her brother. She is even placed under house arrest. Under these circumstances, Arjun's friends happily walk into the hospital to talk to him. That the place is supposed to be swarming with cops doesn't seem to bother them.

Further, Arjun manages to escape from the hospital with minimal effort even with the two gun-shot wounds. This is too drmatic to evoke any sense of excitement. Such lapses dent the credibility of the whole story and sets in boredom as a result.

Certain characters overplay their parts and really annoy. For instance, the young kid who plays Anjali's daughter in the film is made to reel out dialogues that are way too mature for someone of her age to speak. The 2-3-year-old kid talks about women's empowerment and threatens a senior police officer that she will make a video of the manner in which he is harrassing her mother and upload it out on YouTube! Director Gnanamuthu seems to nurse the opinion that trashing men and glorifying women will fetch him brownie points in today's time. That may well be the case, but then, this is not something that can be encouraged.

On the brighter side, the film has fantastic performances coming in from Anurag Kashyap and Raashi Khanna. Kashyap, in particular, is brilliant. He plays the role of Rudra with such flourish that one actually marvels at his confidence and audacity. The strength of a hero is determined by the villain he takes on. That way, Nayanthara must thank Kashyap for enhancing her performance by playing his own character to perfection.

Nayanthara, as always, looks elegant, confident and in control. She delivers a neat performance yet again.

Atharvaa, an immensely talented youngster, has been waiting for the right break since he acted in Eetti (2015). He has latched on to this film with both hands and made best use of the opportunity to showcase his acting skills. He impresses as the young doctor in love and as the desperate lover craving for the return of his ex-girlfriend.

The film has decent music by composer duo Hiphop-Tamizha (Adhithya Venkatapathy and R Jeeva) and reasonably good cinematography by RD Rajasekhar.

On the whole, this is a film that could have been much better had certain sections received better treatment.