Movie: Velvet Nagaram
Direction: Manojkumar Natarajan
Cast: Varalaxmi Sarathkumar
Music: Achu Rajamani
Cinematographer: Bagath Kumar
Editor: Raymond Derrich Crasta
Genre: Thriller
Rating: ∗∗½
What is it about: It’s a Tamil Psychological thriller, where a home invasion goes haywire spinning a series of unfortunate events. The film is directed by Manoj Natarajan.
Why it’s disappointing: There are a few things which don’t sit right with this thriller. May be the main thing being the small budget. The film doesn’t give you a feel of a feature film; rather it sits well as an OTT film. Then few characters didn’t sit right with the story. For instance, Arjai’s henchmen. It seemed very generic. The rest of the cast tries to make a strong case, but somewhere they all lose out on the credibility of their respective characters.
What to watch out for: The film runs on a short runtime, and keeps a tight leash on the core subject. The story and screenplay was pretty good. Central cast manages to hold the ground. Still I felt the potential of Varlaxmi Sarathkumar was not explored to full potential. In spite of being the lead her character seemed taking a back seat. Maalavika Sundar did a fine job. Arjai and Ramesh Thilak were commendable. Prakash Raghavan and Santhosh Krishna fit the attire well.
The background score by Saran Raghavan was gripping. The cinematography by Bagath Kumar was good and so was Raymond Derrich’s editing.
Verdict: Manoj Natarajan, presented a very important subject and managed to sail through with decent performances. The film doesn’t deflect from the core subject. An average thriller which strives to make a strong case, but loses its steam at some point. Could’ve been better.
