The Rainmaker

Movie : Yaavarum Nalam
Language : Tamil
Date : 11th March, 2009.

Review:
There was this scene towards the end of the Movie 'Yaavarum Nalam' (YN) when Madhavan rushes through some old news paper cuttings and puts together the missing pieces from the old murder mystery. During that scene the director shows many 'indicators' which he had cleverly left during the first half in many scenes.Amid even the horror, suspense there were a few in the audience who clapped for those subtle indicators. Those claps for me were the winning moment of YN.

YN is a well worked out blend of 2 of the most famous jounres of cinematic story telling. Murder Mystery and Horror. I do not wish to divulge the story here. The merit lies in the fact that YN exploits both the jounres to a point which makes each of those completely engaging. As the movie starts off you may feel a 'Bhooth' hangover with the lift rising in the shaft and the under ground car parking scenes etc. But the similarity soon ends. YN establishes itself and moves way ahead of 'Bhooth' in many aspects especially a more convincing climax. The 'who done it' part is really well covered with very less loop holes.

The various tools of the movie work in an endearing manner. The background music is like a character in itself. I have not heard such a complimenting BGM score for a long time. I was hugely wishing that they turn the volume down as it was spooking me off. The BGM is truly horror invoking. There is not much attempts to bring the usual surprise jerks in a typical horror movie like ‘Bhooth’. Those are few but the horror is mainly handled via the situation, the BGM and the camera. The Camera is a tweaky jerk to it. It wavers, it shivers and all adds to the spook fest.

The story is convincing for once because its in a premises so close to your life. It can't get more personal than the TV and the flat. Trust me if its giving you a 'Bhooth' hangover already, this is quite different.

The whole of the cast looks competant with Madhavan leading the pack.
I felt that at certain portions the movie tries to take itself too seriously. Like for example after the interval Madhavan says that they need to continue staying at the same flat so that they keep seeing the TV show and get to know what is in store for the future. Someone sane wouldn't do that after he himself has understood that everything becomes normal to him once he is out of the flat (the dog scene).
Certain scenes need better editing and could have been shorter. Especially the 2 songs could have been avoided even though they are not shown in full length. The movie cud have been shorter by minimum 10-15 minutes.

But apart from all of that, the director (Vikram Kumar) deserves a lot of applause. The way he has carried the movie is endearing. He is a talent to look forward to having done Story, Script, Screenplay and Direction.

Verdict - 3.5/5 and a 'VERY GOOD' rating for Vikram Kumar's super movie 'Yaavarum Naalam'.
Go and have 'fun' at the spook fest!