Paramporul review: Aravind Raj’s directorial is an enthralling crime thriller that will keep you hooked

Director C Aravind Raj’s Paramporul is an exciting entertainer, the plot of which revolves around individuals who smuggle antique sculptures.

To his credit, Aravind Raj delivers a fairly gripping thriller that keeps you hooked to it for the most part.

The film starts with Aadhi (Amithash), a youngster from a lower middle-income group, looking to burgle a house in the hope of meeting the huge expenses his family is incurring due to the treatment of a peculiar illness his younger sister is suffering from.

Unfortunately, for Aadhi, the house that he is planning to burgle belongs to Maithreyan (Sarath Kumar), an unscrupulous police inspector who is exceptionally greedy and remarkably ruthless (when it comes to protecting his interests).

As luck would have it, Maithreyan catches Aadhi while he is committing the crime. The police officer wonders how he can use Aadhi and realises that he can be made the scapegoat in all the unsolved cases in his station.

While he attempts to pin all the cases on Aadhi, the poor youngster pleads with the cop to let him go and promises that he will do anything the cop asks him to do in return.

When Maithreyan finds out that Aadhi, prior to turning a burglar, was working in an antique store run by the late Sargunapandian (Ravi Venkat), a popular antique dealer who was involved in smuggling precious antique sculptures, his greed gets the better of him.

He also learns from one of his police sources that Sargunapandian, before his death, gave several precious antiques to different people for safekeeping.

Then Maithreyan begins to question Aadhi about the people with whom Sargunapandian might have left the sculptures. He arm-twists Aadhi into finding him one such piece that he believes can help him settle for life.

Pushed into a corner, Aadhi begins contacting all the people known to his former boss but with no luck.

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It is at this time that one of Sargunapandian’s former associates calls the youth saying that he has with him a 1000-year-old statue that Sargunapandian left with him before suddenly passing away.

He asks Aadhi if there is a buyer who can buy the statue. Maithreyan is thrilled and instantly goads Aadhi to introduce him as an art lover in Bangalore interested in purchasing the piece.

What happens then is what Paramporul is all about.

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Engaging plot and good cast

Several factors work in the favour Paramporul. Prime among these factors is the plot.

The writing is fresh and the story is significantly different from anything that one might have seen in Tamil cinema.

Aravind Raj’s success lies in the fact that he keeps you guessing as to what will happen next.

The story keeps moving in a direction that you least expect it to move and this is not restricted to just one or two instances but the entire film itself.

Correct casting is another big plus for the movie. Sarathkumar and Amithash, as the duo sharing a love-hate relationship, fit their roles.

T Kashmira Pardeshi as Yamini and director Balaji Sakthivel as Sankaralingam are also good choices for their roles.

Gajaraj as the IG of the police unit dealing with Antique smuggling is a nice choice.

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Impressive performances

Sarathkumar, who impressed audiences as a sincere cop in Por Thozhil (2023), impresses yet again — only this time he plays a corrupt cop. It looks like the actor relishes cop roles as he effortlessly slips into the skin of the character.

Amithash, who plays Aadhi, delivers a satisfactory performance. This role and his performance in it are bound to do a world of good for his career.

Kashmira Pardeshi, as a sculptor with a fairly good knowledge of architecture, history and antiques, delivers a fine performance.

Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music and Pandikumar’s cinematography are both big pluses for the film.

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Lapses

While by and large the movie works, certain portions of the story are not narrated emphatically.

Certain sequences in the second half give you the impression that the director himself is searching for a way to connect all the dots.

While the first half makes a telling impact, the second half — by contrast — just about satisfies you.

However, the fact remains that Aravind Raj does manage to connect all the dots in the end, even if not done convincingly.

Final take

To cut a long story short, Paramporul is a film worth watching.

(Views expressed here are personal.)