‘Kuruthi Aattam’ movie review: Atharva’s revenge saga has too much action and too little depth

Three different aspects of the story appear in the film within five minutes. A girl insists on watering a plant somewhere. Elsewhere, a student is writing an exam for the 17th time, while elsewhere, a scuffle breaks out in a prison and an unlikely friendship is formed.

These three events are minor conditions that lead to the establishment of other relationships, which in turn affect each other.

Shakti (Atharva) grew up in Madurai and continues to do the regular things of Tamil cinema: hanging out with friends, playing kabaddi, falling in love and getting into local feuds. An unexpected turn of events leads him into the events of a larger gang, led by don Gandhimati (Radhika Sarathkumar), who controls the city. How will things proceed?

biggest problem of Kuruthi Atami He has a desire to sum up many things in his already long story of 149 minutes. When it decides to focus on the protagonist’s friendship, love comes along. Just when it decides to delve into the romance, a sister story unfolds. This is followed by a story of revenge, and a bond with a young child… the list goes on. There’s a lot going on here right now.

The intention might have been to create a gritty revenge drama – and the seeds of the idea are present – but the over-indulgence and number of subplots ruin the experience. Also, the time given to each relationship that the protagonist builds on over the course of the film is so short that we are least invested in the characters.

Unexpected friendships and relationships are at the core of this film; One of its highlights is Shakti’s friendship with a lead character (Kanna Ravi as Muthu). There are many heated moments and camaraderie here, and one would wish there were enough moments in a film that would otherwise be too much-intentioned. Aravasi and guns. Atharva gets some solid moments, and shines, while Vatsan Chakraborty has a solid presence as Setu. Radhika’s presence is also strong, but her character has very one-dimensional shades that become predictable after a while. While there isn’t much to dig into in Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music, some of the key dialogues are well written, especially about mistakes and friendship. The action choreography and sequences deserve special praise, but many slow-motion shots could have been avoided.

In my review of director Shree Ganesh’s 2017 film,8 Thottakkal, I wrote, “This is a script that is certainly the result of some serious mind work from director Shri Ganesh, not far behind a rich crop of promising debut filmmakers.” with Kuruthi AtamiHe offers another glimpse into that promise, but packs in too many elements to keep us glued to the screen.