‘Eesan’ fails to grip (Tamil Film Review; Rating: **1/2)

Film: “Eesan”; Cast: Samudrakani, A.L. Azhgappan, Aparna, Vaibhav, Abhinaya, Niranjan; Director: M. Sasikumar; Producer: Company Productions; Music: James Vasanthan; Camera: S.R. Kathir; Rating: **1/2

“Eesan”, being the next production of M. Sasikumar of Nadodigal fame, and also his second directorial venture, expectations are naturally high. However, despite an interesting though thin storyline, the film fails to grip you all through. Its like the maker started out right but somewhere along the line, got lost in the maze of things he’s trying to convey. Its more like watching two films for the price of one!

The story revolves around Sezhyan (Vaibhav) and his bunch of rich friends who hang around pubs and discos, eyeing girls and drinking heavily. They run into the law when they chase one girl one night but the politician dad Deivam (Azhagappan) rescues the bunch despite the efforts of cop Sengaiyya (Samudrakani).

Deivam is a greedy and powerful man who stops at nothing, not even murder, to get what he wants in life. Even when his son falls in love with Reshma (Aparna debuts), the daughter of a super rich industrialist from Karnataka, he turns it into a lucrative deal for himself.

However, things go wrong for him one day when his son is kidnapped and another boy in the group, Vinod (Niranjan) is murdered with wrongly administered drugs in the hospital. The story behind these incidents is what “Eesan” finally turns out to be.

The music by James Vasanthan is good in parts and gives you something to tap your feet to. The storyline starts interestingly with an eve teasing case and an interesting face off between the politician and industrialist is expected mainly because of the good punch dialogues. Nothing however comes out of it! The stunt scenes are good in the village sequences and most of the actors do a credible job.

The screenplay meanders along uncertainly and film seems too long and drags in parts, especially in the pub and hotel scenes. Too many shots of cars going in and out, a meandering love track, a very long flashback sequence, and too many scenes are included showing the politician, trying to establish his character or lack of it! Its one thing to make new people act but to give them extra long screen time is nerve wrecking for the viewer and so it happens in the case of some of the newcomers, especially the producers and directors turned actors in the film.

The director is trying to give a message but is clearly unfamiliar with the city scenario in the higher circles that he is trying to show. When the final picture emerges one wishes he had got onto the main story somewhere in the first half itself and saved everyone a lot of time.

Another thing is the violence or rather the type of it. Heavy metal objects hitting the spine of people again and again is more than anyone can take. The bloodletting is horrendous. Samudrakani has been underused and looks mostly confused himself, as much as the audience who is left wondering where the film is going.

Verdict: Clearly not what was expected from a Sasikumar film. Crisp editing would do the film a world of good. Watchable once.