Burma

My review: Burma

Tamil cinema is now abuzz with the neo-noir heist thrillers, following the cult internet following of "Aranya Kandam", touted as the first one of this genre in Tamil. Now Dharanidharan makes his debut with "Burma", a movie that deals with car robbery or rather "car seizing" as they call it, in the neo-noir style. Movie is stylish, well written, well performed and well made. Running just 98 minutes, the movie is taut too. The problem is there is nothing inventive or challenging to show in the script and it fails to create any tension or thrill in the audience. The movie fails in creating the "mood" that might have made this one a hell of a ride. In the end the makers have just settled for a ride. 

Though the movie's running time is economical, there are four songs which not only affects the fluidity of the narration but also plays the most important part in the movie's failure in creating the mood. But having said that, there is enough in the movie to go gaga about it. The unique characterization of the people who inhabitate "Burma" yet who feel and look real is testament to the terrific writing and presentation by Dharanidharan. Though there are not many heist scenes, the one in the highway when Burma and his accomplish con the gang with their BMW is one of the many well written scenes in the movie. But the main aspect of these type of movies is the surprise element in the twists which is not that evident here.

Movie has a wonderful cast comprising a mix of power-packed veterans and upcoming young talents. Sampath Kumar is just terrific as Guna who ends up at the receiving end each time in the hands of Burma, but still he maintains the majestic visage throughout the movie. Atul Kulkarni is adequate in a role that he has done umpteen times so far in his career. Michael is promising in the titular role of Burma. He needs to work on his dialgoue delivery. Reshmi Menon exudes confidence in her role while Karthik Sabesh is a riot in his role of Boomer. He has couple of terrific scenes to showcase his talents. Each and every character has a well rounded character graph and have uniqueness in their conception. 

"En Moochum Venam" is a delectable number by Sudharshan M Kumar who has composed the music for this movie. By and large his work is promising. Movie has enchanting visuals which are high on colours shot in a sleek glossy manner by Yuva. For a movie shot with a shoe-string budget, the production values are quiet high. 

Dharanidharan shows promise with the off-beatness of his script and mastery over his presentation, but needs to work on his scripting. It is by no means a routine lazy effort but can't be categorized as a trend-stter either. On the whole, "Burma" joins the list of all those well made movies with unique flavours made by the new generation of Tamil movie makers spearheaded by those from the short film circuit, but falls way short of being the best.  

Bottomline: Fast but not furious enough.

3/5