CHENNAI: We almost appreciate debut director R Manivarman for an investigative thriller that does not waste time with a romantic track, but towards the second half of the film he surprises us by doing just that. The romance involves an alleged murder accused, and this tangent pulls the focus away from the missing person’s case that Oru Nodi opens with.
This is the most major flaw in the film. It wants to be different, which it is in some parts, without realizing that being different alone is not the purpose of a story. The screenplay takes audience attention span for granted as it focuses on two police cases at once within the same film. One scene tussles with another just when we know who is who and why they do what they do. This could have been a good film if only one among these two stories was given prominence and other relegated to an insignificant sub-plot or a cold case with yet to be known shocking truth that can solve both cases. Unfortunately this wasn’t done so.
Oru Nodi unravels quickly within 128 minutes of runtime a plot involving a missing person named Sekar (MS Bhaskar) who against time races to settle dues for getting back his mortgaged property from ruthless land shark Karimedu Thiyagu (Vela Ramamoorthy). The first 30 odd mins were brilliant where police officer Parithi Ilamaran (Taman Kumar) has a look into Sekar’s habitat and then comes a murder case which we can predict right from beginning itself that it will be connected with missing case. But even being predictable we are engaged because ‘how’ is what Oru Nodi all about.
In a movie which rests its weight on narrative flow rather than characterization there aren’t any outstanding performances. But Taman Kumar ends up giving fairly engaging performance. However MS Bhaskar is severely under utilized and Pala Karuppiah’s role ends up being unintentionally hilarious.
Even dialogues are not part of film’s strength. Lines like ‘Unna nimmadhiya vaazha vida maaten’, Vengayatha urikkura maadhri urichiruven,’ and ‘Unna kaadhalicha un pinnadi dhaane vara mudium’ are as generic as it could get. Also with all its attention to detail Oru Nodi falters at logical loopholes. It is common knowledge that law does not allow cremation of a body that is connected to suspicious murder till half way through probe atleast should have happened but we are shown victim’s cremation when still half the probe is remaining just for the sake of drama. Adding salt to injury there happens a murder which changes course of story and that too accidentally with shaving razor!
However, the biggest flaw in Oru Nodi is its coherent screenplay. It becomes a restless experience to remember each and every detail of one story before we forget it while trying to concentrate on another story. The way film switches between two stories is disturbingly abrupt. Editing front has left much to be desired by S Guru Suriya who gives us second half stretched so much that even two hour runtime feels like three hours.
That being said, Oru Nodi has taken a safe distance from the romantic track and it does not have a typical ‘Tamil cinema cop song’, which is to be appreciated. But it should be noted that both the murder story and missing story were having interesting angles on their own with potentiality.
Having few likeable portions, Oru Nodi suffers due to director’s need of throwing around details and creating surprises rather than serving the needs of the story. Investigation thrillers require detailing and purposeful misdirection as its essential ingredients, but when these details are added in overabundance it becomes difficult to digest this movie.
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