Ennul Aayiram (2016)

Of late, many filmmakers are resorting to a multi-strand narrative for a while to tell stories which fall under the thriller genre. Ennul Aayiram, too, begins with a 'somewhat' similar approach. There is the protagonist (Maha), an easy-going youngster who works as a bartender in a star hotel, a girl about to elope with her lover (Marina Michael), a woman disowned by her husband (Shruti Yugal) and a cop on a mission (Vincent Asokan). But very soon, director Krishna Kumar changes tack and goes for a conventional narrative. Maha's devil-may-care attitude lands him in a bizarre one-night stand with Shruti — something which he regrets later. But he unexpectedly finds light at the end of the tunnel in the form of Marina. He woos her for a few days, and the girl (unsurprisingly) falls for him. The two of them enjoy the best time of their lives in each other's company until Maha realises that his lover knows Shruti! We expect the story to take an interesting turn from here, but disappointingly, it falls flat — with a twist incorporated just for the sake of it, leaving us baffled on how the plot would move further. Marina's parents fix her marriage without her consent, and she alerts Maha about the same. In his unconvincing struggle to win her hand, Maha becomes a person wanted by the cops. This unexpected turn of events isn't quite convincing and is also the least interesting among the options that the filmmaker has to take his story forward. With Vincent on his trail, Maha goes underground, and latter decides to elope with his lover. He chalks out a 'risky' plan, but can he succeed? The problem with Ennul Aayiram is that it barely succeeds in keeping us hooked as the story progresses. Gopi Sunder's songs, though appearing unwanted most of the times, and his background score come as a relief as does the cinematography by Athisaya Raj. Debutant Maha, the son of veteran actor Delhi Ganesh (who has also produced the film) and Marina are apt, but the storyline is unnecessarily extended and tests our patience at times.