Movie: Biryani
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Studio Green
Cast: Karthi, Hansika, Premji, Nazar, Sampath, Madhumitha, Ramki and Others
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Editing: Praveen K L, N B Srikanth
Cinematographer: Sakthi Saravanan
Producer: K E Gnanavel Raja
Story, Screenplay, Direction: Venkat Prabhu
Releasing Date: Dec 20, 2013
Story:
The film starts off with Sudhir (Karthi) and Parasu (Premji) going to Rajamundry for the opening of their company’s new showroom. On their way back, they meet a mysterious lady (Mandy Thakkar) who lures them to accompany her to a hotel. Here, they get totally drunk. By the next morning, they find themselves entangled in a kidnap case. Even before they realize, the police accuse them of kidnapping a rich businessman Varadarajulu (Nasser).
Figuring out that they have been trapped, they try to escape from the police in a car. Unfortunately for them, they find the dead body of Varadarajulu in their car dicky. Once they realize they will be charged with the murder case, they come up with a plan to prove their innocence. Who is Varadarajulu? Who plotted to get them implicated in the murder case, forms the rest of the story.
Artistes’ Performance:
Karthi impresses with a simple performance without going overboard. But it is Premji who gets to have the major chunk of the pie. Barring the action scenes, he gets equal footage with Karthi. In fact, Premji has always managed plump roles in all Venkat Prabhu films. There are also times when he evokes laughs with his perfect comic timing.
Coming to the leading girl Hansika, she has very little to do in this thriller. In fact, there is little scope for her as per the script, but she manages to make her presence felt.
Ramky is ok. Nasser has a routine character. Sampath is average. Madhumita, Mandy and others put in adequate performances.
Highlights
- Karthi-Premji Comedy
Drawbacks
- Second Half
Analysis:
The director takes his own sweet time to actually get into the story. The film kickstarts with the various pranks that Karthi and Premji play on each other. Also, the director uses the technique of showing small flashbacks to tell the story of the lead pair. While it is interesting as a technique, it does bore you after a while. The film catches pace only after the murder element is brought in.
Another major flaw is the excessive use of comedy, especially when it does not help the story to go any further. In fact, the director banks on it so much that he uses it even during the climax. On the one hand, he has some scintillating moments where he shows his natural spark while handling comic scenes and on the other, he fails miserably in coming up with a convincing track to solve the murder mystery.
There are some big loopholes in the script that the director doesn’t bother to plug. For example, in today’s age where technology has evolved tremendously, he uses an age-old plot where Naseer who dies much earlier, is shown to have died later. Now, a simple post-mortem would have established the time of his death. There are many such glitches and the director ties to wrap up the film with a silly ending.
However, if you go with zero expectations, you may not be totally disappointed. In comparison with Karthi’s Badboy and Sakuni, Biriyani is a lot better. The comedy does make it worth a watch. But be sure to leave logic behind. If you dwell into the intricacies of the plot, then you are bound to come back disappointed.
Bottomline: Less Pieces, More Rice!
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
