E - just short of Excellent

Online ticket booking again and a different disappointment this time. I booked tickets for row G and as I expected it was the seventh row from behind. But, to my shock, it was also the third row from the front and that's Studio-5 for you. Definitely, the audio effects and visuals were not as bad as I thought. Anyway, this movie was the closest to me in terms of seating.

Getting to the movie, I, personally, had a lot of expectation about E, due to Jeeva & director Jananathan. I started to develop a liking for the director from his first movie Iyarkai as it was completely realistic and it even won the national award. Again the director lives up to his reputation of showing reality in his movie, but for the last 20-30 minutes where he gets carried away by the latest graphic effects.

The hero is not a do-gooder like all heroes are. He is just an important character for the story and Jeeva excels in that role. The characterization is splendid that the hero does not turn good, for the sake of anything - even for his lover (played by Nayantara). Infact, he is not even too committed in his love. The scene where he casually says "yaarukku theriyum, nee kooda yengappana irukkalaam" sums up his character. Though a bit slow, the movie moves realistically as the ruffian hero leads his driveless life. He accidentally, saves the life of doctor Ramakrishnan (played by Ashish Vidyarthi) from Nellai Mani (played by Pasupathi) at the mortuary. The doctor thanks him and tells him that he could make a lot of money if he killed Mani. The hero is enticed by the offer and goes to get Mani who is in police custody. There he realizes that he is not a normal rowdy and decides to stay away doing his petty crimes. After a while, Mani dodges the police, but couldn't dodge their bullets and is severely wounded and falls in Jeeva's hands, who is delighted for the money he can make with Mani. Jeeva does not realize that its the doctor who is the criminal who tests banned medicines on the poor from the slum and makes a lot of money from alien hands. Jeeva develops a relationship with Mani and understands from him that the doctor has even used his grandma for the test. I feel, there is a deviation from reality here when Jeeva understands and turns over a new leaf. The movie has a very nice unexpected ending, but for the graphics. Not a great suspense, but I wish you watch it on the screen.

One could easily say that Jeeva is the most improved actor currently, be it acting or dance. Nayantara appears with more flesh in some scenes and with a nice slim structure at times. She has done her part well too, but doesn't fit into the slum as Jeeva does. Karunas plays a good friend to the hero with some comedy as well. I think, it's Pasupathi who is more important to the movie than Jeeva in a lot of aspects. The movie also has good camera, decent background scores and songs which are neither bad nor good. One refreshing thing is the absence of a duet. There is not a lot of negatives to talk about, but the utterance of a gross-word, not once, but twice could have been avoided. I don't understand why such words are muted in some movies and not in many others. Also there are no boring flashbacks even though there was good scope to insert one or two.

As said here, E is definitely a very bold attempt with a new concept and it makes us wonder about going to doctors for treatment. A completely fresh movie worth going to the cinemas to watch. Don't miss it.