Discrepancies are aplenty and so are gaffes. Moonar (U/A) tries to stand on the strength of a true murder story — it could have, if it had been aided by racy narration. But instead of a bolstering screenplay, you have one that goes limp midway. Incidents hang loose like the killer’s aped wig in Anniyan style — without much connection between one strand and another.
Sandhya (Ridhima), a young BPO employee, falls for the owner of the pick-up car in which she commutes. The parents get wind of the affair and without giving her a chance to tell them about her choice, bulldoze her into an arranged marriage. Her honeymoon trip with husband Chandramouli (Thambidurai) takes a bizarre turn when he goes missing and she loses her mental balance.
Half the time you have Ranjith, who plays the CBI officer Karthikeyan, going behind vital clues to nab the serial killer. But strangely he seems keen on abruptly leaving one trail and moving on to the next, and makes it a point to arrive late at the crime spot! Meanwhile murders continue to happen. Only at Munnar does Karthikeyan show some semblance of intelligence but even that comes to naught.
Ridhima, the heroine, easily dupes an entire team of doctors and nurses into believing that she’s insane, but just one question from Karthikeyan and she switches over to flashback mode! The actor who shines on the small screen and whose sincerity showed even in the two-scene role in Unnaippol Oruvan, sports a horrendous wig and plays a run-of-the-mill villain in Moonar — Sorry Prem! You deserve something better. For once, Rahasiya as the bar dancer who witnesses one murder after another, has an opportunity to perform.
K. R.Vijaya makes a two-minute appearance, blinking self-consciously!
Why is the family of Chandramouli shown as lower middle class Brahmins in the first two scenes alone? Inconsistency doesn’t seem to bother the maker of Moonar.
How many times can you watch the Sun rise and set, the Government General Hospital, and the traffic on the roads near it? The repetition irritates. Where was the editor or for that matter the director himself?
Director Thambidurai’s boldness has to be noted. Besides the onus of production and direction, he has also taken up a crucial role for himself, and has a duet too! Looking quite middle-aged he doesn’t suit the part of the 30-year-old groom he’s supposed to be. And if the film is inspired by a real-life story, the final scene is a straight lift from Sigappu Rojakkal. Some guts!
The care that should have gone into the making of Moonar is seen only in the well-thought out publicity stills and promos, which arouse interest. Misleading indeed!
‘You can’t escape’ says the slug of the film. No harm in trying!
Moonar
Genre: Thriller
Director: K.Thambidurai
Cast: Ranjith, Thambidurai, Ridhima
Storyline: When a honeymoon takes an ugly turn …
Bottomline: Suspense feature gone awry
Published - October 08, 2009 05:15 pm IST
