Vijay Antony is his usual measured self, but his performance is not enough to make up for the loss of interest caused by a weak plot.
A poster of 'Kolai'. (vijayantony/ Twitter)
Kolai (Tamil)
Director Balaji K Kumar, who earlier impressed us with Vidiyum Munn (2013), attempts to present his latest Kolai in an innovative manner.
Sadly though, his attempt to narrate the investigative drama in a fashion that is distinctly different from the usual method that most film directors employ doesn’t work.
As a result, we audiences are left with a movie the story of which is hard to relate.
A gifted singer, Leila (Meenakshi Chaudhary) hopes to make it big in the world of music when she wins a popular singing contest at the national level.
A still from ‘Kolai’. (Supplied)
Like several people who are unsure of what their next course of action must be, after making the initial splash to stardom, Leila too is unsure how to further her career in the singing industry after winning the contest.
That is when she is approached by Aditya (Murali Sharma), an agent for models, who promises her the world if she agrees to also become a model. He says both modelling and singing can complement each other.
She agrees; but then, things turn sour and she opts out. Soon after, she is found dead in her apartment.
It is clear that she has been murdered. Apart from Aditya, there are a host of other suspects, including her friend Satish (Siddhartha Shankar), photographer Arjun, and a special child called Vinod, who happens to be her neighbour.
The case is assigned to Sandhya (Ritika Singh) who takes the assistance of her mentor Vinayak (Vijay Antony) to solve the case.
How they go about solving the murder is what Kolai is all about.
Ritika Singh in ‘Kolai’. (Supplied)
Kolai begins on a slow and drab note. The film, especially its first half, fails to make an impression because of a number of factors.
The first factor that makes a big difference is the highly sophisticated manner in which all developments in the film are showcased.
The director, in his endeavour to make the movie internationally appealing, seems to have alienated it from local audiences.
As a result, those who have been a part of this wonderful city find it hard to buy the theory that this is a story happening in Chennai, despite the makers claiming it to be so.
True, Chennai does have a modern side to it. But the modern side showcased in the film makes Chennai look more like Chicago.
The second factor that works against Kolai is its artificiality. There is a sense of exaggeration and artificiality in several sequences, especially those involving the police force.
Those from the police force come across more like employees in a private security service than they do as police officers.
Thirdly, the joy of watching an investigative thriller comes from watching an investigator searching for clues at the crime scene, collating them, deducing the sequence of events leading to the crime and eventually getting to understand the motive for the crime.
#Kolai from tomorrow in Theatres. A Sneak Peek for you. Enjoy 🔥🌟
▶️ https://t.co/W1JZE6JakY@DirBalajiKumar @ritika_offl @Meenakshiioffl @FvInfiniti @lotuspictures1 @bKamalBohra @dhananjayang @pradeepfab @Panbohra @siddshankar_ @ggirishh @EditorSelva @thinkmusicindia… pic.twitter.com/eeD32HjZoj
— vijayantony (@vijayantony) July 20, 2023
However, in Kolai, the first part of the investigation, — which is a careful examination of the crime scene — is almost absent with only interrogation of acquaintances of the victim and suspects happening.
There are flashes of occasional brilliance in the film like the spotting of a Freudian slip that a character makes while making a request to the cops but these are few and far between.
Vijay Antony in ‘Kolai’. (Supplied)
The performances of Kolai’s lead actors aren’t also forceful enough for us to buy the story that the director is looking to sell.
Vijay Antony is his usual measured self, but his performance is not enough to make up for the loss of interest caused by a weak plot and an insipid narration.
Ritika Singh is completely at sea as the police officer investigating the case. She has a frown on her face on most occasions in the hope that it will give audiences the impression that she is a focused and sharp officer. Sadly, that is not the case.
Interestingly, two of the film’s strongest performances come from not its lead actors but from its supporting cast.
Murali Sharma, who plays a shady model agent looking to exploit vulnerable models, is absolutely fabulous, delivering a peach of a performance.
Equally good is Kishore Kumar who plays the character of Bobby. Both these actors contribute handsomely to the plot.
On the technical front, Girishh Gopalakrishnan’s background score is just perfect and plays a significant role in accentuating the mood of the sequences as they begin to unfold.
Director Balaji K Kumar’s Kolai has sparks of brilliance to offer occasionally.
However, for an audience who is hungry and looking for a sumptuous feast, this might come across as only a tasty snack at best!
(Views expressed here are personal.)
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