Kuruvi - The Movie Review

Banner: Red Giant Movies

Produced by: Udhayanidhi Stalin

Directed by: Dharani

Music: Vidhyasagar

Cast: Vijay, Trisha, Vivek, Suman, Manivannan, Ashish Vidhyarthi

Kuruvi, one of the biggest releases of this summer, had lot of expectations with the comeback of Ghilli team and with Dharani promising something more than Ghilli. Truth is, the film just lives upto the name of an average commercial entertainer. Dharani who made the best ever remake in Ghilli and made us enjoy Dhil and Dhool has stopped with a half baked effort this time and has let Vijay carry the film for him.

Vetrivel(Vijay), living with his huge family in Chennai goes to Malaysia as “Kuruvi” along with his friend Ops(Vivek) to get a pending payment from Gocha(Suman) and clear off his family debts. There he finds himself betrayed and in the chase for Gocha, he ends up getting his sister Devi (Trisha) fall in love with him. Vetrivel and Ops return to India stealing a diamond from Gocha along with Devi who elopes in search of her Kuruvi. Gocha comes to India in search of the diamond, finds Vetrivel and reveals lots of hidden secrets about the whereabouts of Vetrivel’s father who is considered as missing by the family. The rest of the film is about how Vetrivel wins over Gocha and his aides to save his father and how Trisha unites with her Kuruvi.

The director moves the film in right direction till the end of first half. Thereafter, in his quest to project Vijay as a super (natural??!!) hero and satisfy the die hard fans of Vijay, Dharani has taken painful efforts to the let the screenplay move carelessly, drenched in blood and gore with lots of spicy masala thrown in.

Considering this is an action film, action sequences are surprisingly the main drawbacks of the film, barring a well composed club fight in the first half. Many stunts are unbelievably overdone with poor visual effects aimed at only projecting the super hero power, ultimately evoking from the viewer a totally different reaction than what it is supposed to do.

Songs have been shot well, choreography in Dandaana Darna and Mozha Mozhanu song is a treat for eyes. Vidhyasagar's background score too is impressive. Gopinath's camera work, VT Vijayan's editing and Maniraj's art direction does an awesome threesome magic for the film. Scenes shot in Malaysia and the rusty look of second half deserve special mention.

Vijay is at his usual best in dance, action, comedy and expressions. He has handled the whole second half by himself where director has taken a back seat adding less value to the film. The extremely over the top punches and one sided fight sequences may go down well with the die hard Vijay fans but for the normal audience, a feel of boredom creeps up after a point.

Trisha has performed her role well, acts vibrant, looks cute and shares an excellent chemistry with Vijay in scenes and songs. Vivek in first half is a major advantage for the film and does a great job as Vijay's friend. You miss him in the second half where expect a couple of songs and few lighter moments, all you get to see is violence. Suman and Aasish Vidhyarthi as villans are just fine while other villains deafen you most of the time. The supporting cast of the film has done a very good job, Saranya, Manivannan and the small kid in the quarry being noteworthy mentions.

The content and the edge-of-the-seat excitement of Ghilli is surely missing in Kuruvi, but even if you forget Ghilli and look at Kuruvi as a normal entertainer, there is a serious lack of director's work and only Vijay remains in the film. Lifted scenes/ideas from other films, unwise packaging of fun filled first half and fan desired second half and a loose story line are Dharani's major mistakes in Kuruvi. Better luck next time Dharani!

Overall Rating: 5/10

Verdict: Kuruvi - Flying with limits and limitations