Diary review: Arulnithi and Pavithra shine in this interesting supernatural concept

Diary was touted as a horror thriller, with Arulnithi playing a cop. The flick is helmed by debutant director Innasi Pandiyan.

The Mouna Guru star recently had two more thrillers released in theatres and this comes in close succession to those. But D Block, Déjàvu and Diary are all different, though they fall in the thriller category.

In Diary, Varadha (Arulnithi) is a sub-inspector trainee. When all the SI trainees are instructed to pick and work on an old unsolved case, he ends up with a 16-year-old case involving the murder of a couple on their honeymoon in Ooty.

Varadha heads to Ooty and starts to work with sub-inspector Pavithra (Pavithra Marimuthu) to decode this murder mystery.

As he delves into the case, he notices strange elements that lead him to go on an unexpected bus journey from Ooty to Coimbatore, along with a few passengers.

Why does he end up on that bus? And how are these cases related? Did he solve the mystery? It’s best to find the answers on the silver screen.

Layered plot in this thriller

Director Innasi Pandiyan also donned the hat of story writer for Diary. He tried to add many layers to the plot by giving the numerous characters on the bus their own stories.

There is a reason why each of these characters is on that particular bus, and it is engaging to watch.

Though the movie is about an investigation, the director added horror, comedy, young love and family drama elements through these characters.

So, we’ll find an eclectic group on this bus: an MLA’s daughter eloping with her beloved, a man trying to rescue his lover from a forced marriage, a car thief, a school-going girl, a family, a widowed mom and an elderly lady.

The only aspect they have in common at that point is that they are on the bus together.

Too many twists to keep track of

But the number of twists the director threw in is jarring. What could have been a very effective thriller ends up being a mishmash of elements!

Had the director stuck to just a few twists with precise sub-plots, the audience would have invested more in the story, and the film would have been more powerful.

One loses the surprise element as there are too many twists to keep track of.

While the idea for Dairy is good, the screenplay and some of the cringe dialogues and sequences let down the director.

The second half of the film is better than the first half.

The redemption is that Innasi Pandiyan was able to successfully bring all the elements together in the end.

With regard to the performances, Aulnithi pulled off a good performance and Pavithra also is convincing in her role. Sha Ra adds value to the film as the man hoping to abscond with his lover.

Aravinnd Singh’s cinematography and Ron Ethan Yohann’s BGM are notable.
In all, Diary has its good chapters, but it doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat all the time.