Oru Naal Iravil Movie Review

November 20, 2015

2 minutes read

Review Overview

Performances

Screenplay and Direction

Technical Aspects and BGM

An outstanding directorial debut by Anthony!

Master Editor Anthony makes an outstanding directorial debut with Oru Naal Iravil, which triumphs in the way it depicts its characters when they are thrown into challenging situations.

Cast: Sathyaraj, Anu Mol, Yugi Sethu, Varun, Dixitha Kothari & others

Cinematography: MS Prabhu

Music: Navin Iyer

PRO: Nikkil

Story: Joy Mathew

Screenplay, Editing & Direction: Anthony

Production: Think Big Studios & Paulsons Media

Release Date: 20-11-2015

Run Time: 01:49:00

Master Editor Anthony makes an outstanding directorial debut with Oru Naal Iravil, which triumphs in the way it depicts its characters when they are thrown into challenging situations. The compassionate story-telling, without taking judgemental anecdotes and sugar-coated supplements, is bolstered by Sathyaraj’s understated performance that takes us on a journey of self-discovery and love.

The film narrates the story of Sekar (played by Sathyaraj), a staunch conservative, who wears his morals on his sleeve. He doesn’t approve his daughter riding on a bike with her classmate and decides to marry her off, putting the lid on her academics midway. However, he wouldn’t nudge to be on the horns of a dilemma when he has an opportunity to have a one-night stand with a prostitute. There is a great dichotomy between Sekar’s social life and personal life, which is what Oru Naal Iravil explores beautifully with an earnest portrayal of elementary emotions.

With Sekar’s one-night stand with the hooker – played by the laudable Anu Mol – inside a closed shop, Joy Mathew’s story devises simple situations to bring out the awkward human predicament his protagonist is forced to contend with. The breach of trust – first by Sekar on his wife, second by his friend who couldn’t resist taking a sneaky look at Sekar’s bathroom window when someone baths – is unwrapped when Sekar wends his way to self-realization and learns the real faces of the outside world.

The first half establishes the characters steadily and dives into the suspense territory with a bang-up interval block. The poignant second half, which is tightly made and makes up for less than half of the running time as the first, culminates in a heartening embrace.

Everyone, I repeat, everyone in the film has a purpose and they serve it so well. Yugi Sethu, who plays an honest, struggling film-maker waiting to start his next project and Varun, who plays the unenlightened auto driver, have done justice to their roles with tidy portrayals.

The claustrophobic nature of the film gets wiped out by the relevant background score of Navin and a motley of indoor and outdoor shots crafted to perfection by cinematographer MS Prabhu. Yugi Sethu scores with his natural dialogues in the most unlikely scenes. At 106 minutes, the film remains tight and hard throughout its running time, thanks to Anthony’s tons of experience with scissors. His keen eye to discard superfluous shots seems to have definitely helped keep the proceedings close-knit. This is a directorial debut Anthony can indeed be proud of.