Imaikkaa Nodigal is a Tamil thriller film written and directed by R. Ajay Gnanamuthu. The film starring Nayanthara, Atharvaa Murali, Raashi Khanna and Anurag Kashyap. Music is composed by Hiphop Tamizha.
Anurag Kashyap as Rudra is a psycho killer. Nayanthara as Anjali Vikramadithyan is a CBI officer takes up this threatening case to safeguard the city.
Nayanthara suits nicely to her role, she has performed cleverly by knowing the thick of her character. Anurag Kashyap is truly the show-stealer, his psychotic behavior, and crazy screen presence easily elevate his terrifying villain role. Atharvaa’s characterization in Imaikkaa Nodigal is kind of cinematic and he could have expressed things in a better manner. Raashi Khanna has played her part well and she is cute in the romantic portions. Vijay Sethupathi’s cameo is a huge plus to the movie and he has acted beautifully as an innocent man. Ramesh Thilak just fills the gap as Atharvaa’s friend.
Ajay Gnanamuthu’s direction is highly impressive and he has succeeded to an extent with his intention of commercially approaching a quality thriller script. Imaikkaa Nodigal story is a bit familiar but it has been presented in a refreshing way. The screenplay is convincing on the whole, but there are certain lags here and there. Pattukottai Prabhakar’s dialogues are an added bonus, the words uplift Anurag’s character and he has provided perfect lip-sync. Magizh Thirumeni has done a phenomenal job in dubbing for Anurag Kashyap.
Hiphop Tamizha’s songs are so catchy for the ears. His background score works fine with the situations, and the ‘Rudra Theme’ stands out. R.D.Rajasekhar’s cinematography is excellent, he has put in plenty of efforts to bring out this classy visual output which has good clarity. Bhuvan Srinivasan’s cuts are decent, but he could have edited around 15mins to make the movie even tighter. Art direction and costume department have also given enough input to create a beautiful output.
Logic mistakes exist at a few places. Flashbacks appear as lags to the narration. Atharvaa and Raashi Khanna’s love track could have been short, they were also made in an artificial manner. Heroism was quite high in the second half which made the film look cinematic. Stunt choreography is just middling. 170mins seems to be very long, the movie is overall engaging, but it could have definitely been crisper. Commercial sacrifices act as the spoilsport here. Anurag Kashyap’s character is deeply written which makes him a menacing baddie. A couple of twists revealed in the latter part are interesting. Two songs before the interval are speed-breakers.
Verdict: An engaging commercial thriller that could have been crisper.
