English translation: One day in Chennai
Director: Shahid Kader
Story: Bobby, Sanjay
Cast: Cheran, Prasanna, Prakash Raj, Sarath Kumar, Radhika Sarathkumar
Music: Mejo Joseph
Time: 119 minutes
Bottom-line: A fast-paced thriller; highly engaging
Very rarely does such a good film come in Tamil, or in any language for that matter. Chennaiyil Oru Naal is a thrill ride, powered by its ensemble cast and good story, but mostly by its narrative structure. Happening entirely in a day, this film is told in a hyperlink format, where several tracks are told parallel to each other, and all have a common ending. Once you start watching this film, you can be guaranteed of two hours of pure entertainment.
The story has six main tracks, all of which are interspersed; the story takes place on one day, September 16th. In the first track, a young woman driving a car is being eve teased by many guys on bikes. Terrified, she jumps a signal and accidentally injures two people on a bike. One later becomes brain dead, but the other, Ajmal (Mithun) is not so badly injured. She later confesses to the police about this. In the second track, Traffic Constable Satyamoorthy (Cheran) comes back into force after being suspended for accepting bribes. In the third track, superstar Gautham Krishna’s (Prakash Raj) new film is about to release. His daughter is a talented chess player, but he is too busy about his acting career that he hardly pays attention to her talent or his family. In the fourth track, Dr. Robin (Prasanna) is about to celebrate his first wedding anniversary. In the fifth track, a reporter, Karthik (Sachin) is about to interview Gautham Krishna. The last track comes later in the film.
Gautham’s daughter is having a severe heart problem and as it worsens, the doctors have no choice but to perform a heart transplant. However, as there is no heart readily available, the doctors request the dead man’s (who was killed in the accident) parents to permit the doctors to remove the man’s heart- for which they have to kill him- and transport the heart to Vellore, where Gautham’s daughter is. They refuse, but eventually allow the transfer. Due to rain, the heart can only be taken by road. Enter Commissioner Sundara Pandian (Sarath Kumar), who is in charge of the safe transport of the heart. Determined to win back some admiration, Sathyamoorthy opts to drive the car to transport the heart. Accompanying him are Ajmal and Dr. Robin. The rest of the film is whether or not Sathyamoorthy travels 150 kilometres in 90 minutes, from Chennai to Vellore. Along the remaining part of the film, some incidents that happened the same morning are shown as flashbacks, revealing the hidden nature of some characters.
OK, I know the plot is complex. I described the tracks in a more detailed manner, in case you cannot follow the film when you watch it the first time. The film however, is shorter than many other films: this film is just about two hours long. All the different tracks are shown in a fairly understandable and fast manner, but you have to watch about 20 minutes of the film -and maybe pause and recall the story- to fit all the tracks into your mind.
The story is excellent. This film is a remake of the 2011 Malayalam film Traffic, but is based on a true story that actually happened in Chennai. I like the way Kader has managed to show the various tracks side by side, without missing out any events. Each and every scene in the film is important, and as the story progresses, you will find some hidden events of the same day, that took place before the accident. The only drawback, as far as the story is concerned, is the couple of songs at the beginning. The story moves very well without the songs, and it would have been better without them. However, after the songs are over, the film is a non-stop action-packed thriller.
The acting is average. Other than Prsanna and Prakash Raj, all the others have acted poorly. Cheran has his usual expressionless unemotional look on his face. Sarath Kumar kind of overacts his role in my opinion. His character is also an unstable one. Once he says, “The mission is on!” then there is a sudden twist, and he is like, “The mission is off!” and then again, he goes, “The mission is on!” I mean, how does a guy with this sort of an unstable decision-making mind become the Commissioner??
Another drawback I found, though it is not a major flaw, was the name of the story. It says ‘Chennaiyil’ oru naal, but throughout the film, only a few scenes are actually shown in Chennai. Most of the scenes are shown en route from Chennai to Vellore. Another negative aspect is few unrealistic scenes. There is one scene where Sathyamoorthy drives a Ford Endeavour through a village. He asks everyone to clear the streets, which also have big cars parked in them. Almost magically, all the cars are being cleared, and despite the children playing in the roads and other obstacles, the car somehow manages to go across.
Yet, with its powerful cast, thrilling, action-packed and a fairly believable story, Chennaiyil Oru Naal is an entertainer that manages to shine brighter than many other Tamil action films. Good photography, good editing and an excellent narrative structure make it one of the best films of this decade so far.
My Rating: 4/5
Director: Shahid Kader
Story: Bobby, Sanjay
Cast: Cheran, Prasanna, Prakash Raj, Sarath Kumar, Radhika Sarathkumar
Music: Mejo Joseph
Time: 119 minutes
Bottom-line: A fast-paced thriller; highly engaging
Very rarely does such a good film come in Tamil, or in any language for that matter. Chennaiyil Oru Naal is a thrill ride, powered by its ensemble cast and good story, but mostly by its narrative structure. Happening entirely in a day, this film is told in a hyperlink format, where several tracks are told parallel to each other, and all have a common ending. Once you start watching this film, you can be guaranteed of two hours of pure entertainment.
The story has six main tracks, all of which are interspersed; the story takes place on one day, September 16th. In the first track, a young woman driving a car is being eve teased by many guys on bikes. Terrified, she jumps a signal and accidentally injures two people on a bike. One later becomes brain dead, but the other, Ajmal (Mithun) is not so badly injured. She later confesses to the police about this. In the second track, Traffic Constable Satyamoorthy (Cheran) comes back into force after being suspended for accepting bribes. In the third track, superstar Gautham Krishna’s (Prakash Raj) new film is about to release. His daughter is a talented chess player, but he is too busy about his acting career that he hardly pays attention to her talent or his family. In the fourth track, Dr. Robin (Prasanna) is about to celebrate his first wedding anniversary. In the fifth track, a reporter, Karthik (Sachin) is about to interview Gautham Krishna. The last track comes later in the film.
Gautham’s daughter is having a severe heart problem and as it worsens, the doctors have no choice but to perform a heart transplant. However, as there is no heart readily available, the doctors request the dead man’s (who was killed in the accident) parents to permit the doctors to remove the man’s heart- for which they have to kill him- and transport the heart to Vellore, where Gautham’s daughter is. They refuse, but eventually allow the transfer. Due to rain, the heart can only be taken by road. Enter Commissioner Sundara Pandian (Sarath Kumar), who is in charge of the safe transport of the heart. Determined to win back some admiration, Sathyamoorthy opts to drive the car to transport the heart. Accompanying him are Ajmal and Dr. Robin. The rest of the film is whether or not Sathyamoorthy travels 150 kilometres in 90 minutes, from Chennai to Vellore. Along the remaining part of the film, some incidents that happened the same morning are shown as flashbacks, revealing the hidden nature of some characters.
 |
| Prasanna as Robin (left), Mitun as Ajmal (centre) and Cheran as Sathyamoorthy |
OK, I know the plot is complex. I described the tracks in a more detailed manner, in case you cannot follow the film when you watch it the first time. The film however, is shorter than many other films: this film is just about two hours long. All the different tracks are shown in a fairly understandable and fast manner, but you have to watch about 20 minutes of the film -and maybe pause and recall the story- to fit all the tracks into your mind.
The story is excellent. This film is a remake of the 2011 Malayalam film Traffic, but is based on a true story that actually happened in Chennai. I like the way Kader has managed to show the various tracks side by side, without missing out any events. Each and every scene in the film is important, and as the story progresses, you will find some hidden events of the same day, that took place before the accident. The only drawback, as far as the story is concerned, is the couple of songs at the beginning. The story moves very well without the songs, and it would have been better without them. However, after the songs are over, the film is a non-stop action-packed thriller.
 |
| Prakash Raj (right) as Gautham Krishna and Radhika Sarathkumar, as Gautham Krishna's wife |
The acting is average. Other than Prsanna and Prakash Raj, all the others have acted poorly. Cheran has his usual expressionless unemotional look on his face. Sarath Kumar kind of overacts his role in my opinion. His character is also an unstable one. Once he says, “The mission is on!” then there is a sudden twist, and he is like, “The mission is off!” and then again, he goes, “The mission is on!” I mean, how does a guy with this sort of an unstable decision-making mind become the Commissioner??
 |
| Sarath Kumar as Sundara Pandian |
Another drawback I found, though it is not a major flaw, was the name of the story. It says ‘Chennaiyil’ oru naal, but throughout the film, only a few scenes are actually shown in Chennai. Most of the scenes are shown en route from Chennai to Vellore. Another negative aspect is few unrealistic scenes. There is one scene where Sathyamoorthy drives a Ford Endeavour through a village. He asks everyone to clear the streets, which also have big cars parked in them. Almost magically, all the cars are being cleared, and despite the children playing in the roads and other obstacles, the car somehow manages to go across.
Yet, with its powerful cast, thrilling, action-packed and a fairly believable story, Chennaiyil Oru Naal is an entertainer that manages to shine brighter than many other Tamil action films. Good photography, good editing and an excellent narrative structure make it one of the best films of this decade so far.
My Rating: 4/5
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