Nirangal Moondru

Karthick Naren hasn't been able to live up to the high standards set by his debut effort D16, yet I'd say this is miles ahead of anything he has churned out as a filmmaker since then. Hyperlink cinema seems to be his forte, as Nirangal Moondru also has a very intriguing first half (except for some cringy comedy). The usage of retro Tamil music is cool, but the random insertion of The Weeknd's Blinding Lights felt pretentious. So does the action set piece that plays out in reverse, serving little purpose other than to fuel the trippiness.

Jakes Bejoy scores 80% of the film in spectacular fashion, but the remaining 20% sounded like generic patchwork; thankfully those are for less consequential scenes. Performances-wise, Sarath Kumar and Rahman are solid, while Atharvaa is alright. The conclusion (i.e. When all the dots connect) is far from convincing and leaves you on an emotionally neutral note. All that said, I'm not entirely giving up on Karthick Naren as a writer-director just yet. There's more (good stuff) to come, I hope.