Sarabham 2015

Cast: Naveen Chandra, Salomy Luthra, Aadukalam naren, Khadal kannan, Boys Rajan

Plot and Storyline:

Sarabham (Mystical creature - A Flying Lion ) is a tamil crime mystery story directed by Arun Mohan and produced by C.V. Kumar. The film starts with Vikram( Naveen Chandra), an architect in a leading company on Chennai, he leeds a wealthy life and has ambition to earn more money, he explains his philosophy in the beginning of the film " money is the one and only source of all happiness", He tells his struggle from an architect to a project head and his future plans of earning more, The screen then pans to Chandrasekar (Aadukalam Naren), a leading industrialist , His daughter snorts Cocain in front of him. Chandrasekar is annoyed at her and he leaves for office. From the first few scenes it is a very bold attempt of the director to show what is the state of rich people and their issues at home and how the next-gen youth are so obsessed with money. Vikram is shattered as his project is rejected by Chandrasekaran, in a desperate attempt to do something against him Vikram walks to his house and sees his daughter walking out and follows her. He finds out that she also hates his father and wants money from him. The rest of the story is if they get money from Chandrasekar and what happens to both of them at the end.

The storyline of Sarabham is has many narratives overlaid together, only at the end do we really know what really happened in the film. There are many twists to the story which really is unprecedented. Salony Luthra's debut as Sruthi/Sanjanana is really one of the boldest characters in the film, though she lacks a little bit depth in her acting, it is really a commendable performance. "Snorting Cocain in the opening scene " i don't think anyone of the leading ladies have done it as of now. Any the deceit in her character is really something, Very intelligently put together by the director. The film is much like "The usual suspects", There is a narrative and then there is an actual truth, the narrative is not required to be the truth.

Aadukalam Naren is a suave villain,  His character is also really good in the film. A villain who is very practical and sensible. The lead - Vikram does justice to his role. A typical portrayal of the modern day youth, Always thinking of Money and living for the moment. It is Salony who pulls the film through wit her character changing through the film , twisting and twisting until we know the final truth about her. The Striking thing about the film is that you have all the characters necessary for a typical tamil film, the hero, heroine and a Villian , but Sarabham stands out of the Cliche, After the film we would realise that this film is something else altogether.

The film really has some quirks in it, like in the walls of Vikram's home which says " I'm the Architect of my own disaster and the poster of the film which shows how the character of the film are framed by the other, The finishing is the last scene where Vikram takes the job he got rejected n the first place and though this is not a regular ending in tamil films - like the good triumphs over evil. The ending is quite different- may be the smarter one triumphs.

Verdict:

C.V.Kumar's selection of film is really something, each and every film is completely different from the other. It reminds me of S.Picture sometime back where Shankar gave chance to all those debut directors and made some good directors like Simbudvean, Balaji Sakthivel, Arivazhagan etc. Arun Mohan's Debut is unmistakable brilliant, Sruthi/Sanjana's character is unique on paper and its is good portrayal by Salony but could have been better by some big names like Trisha( that would be my choice!). Though it lacks a little bit thrill may because of the background score but it is really worth a watch.