Despite few shortcomings, this movie is a welcome gesture from Surya. When other mainstream heroes restrict themselves to "formulaic" films considering the mammoth money spinning around them, considering their need to satisfy their ardent fans, considering the profit they need to make for all involved in film distribution, Surya has invested his money in an experimental genre and his utmost efforts too.



In a movie falling between sci Fi and fantasy, the introduction inciting incident should be around the invention of the device, right?? Here it is. Surya, enacting the role of Sethuraman, who is nerdy and cowardly and other Surya, who is Athreya, overdoing the villainic gestures fight for that.

The device has to reach other Surya. Manikandan who is a routine romance seeking hero. The director overuses the factor of "coincidences" to make the plot point. Till this the movie was fantabulous.

Things get messy, when the director suddenly drifts the trajectory in a love track. It annoys us, it dampens the flow and swallows enough time which could have been otherwise used to show the enmity between Athreya and Sethuraman or the pursuit of Athreya for Manikandan.

Even the directors who have enough potential like Vikram Kumar, could not skip the romantic side track and make the hero using the device for a monotonous episode. Things get interesting again when Athreya reaches the device and interval point.

He compensates well in the last half hour of the film. Till then he uses bits like vow of Samantha s family and showing maternal gush of Saranya.

All the three roles need justification, and Surya does it. Especially when he is a chair ridden mass fuming with incapability, frustration and vengeance, he is extravagant.

Many compare 24 with "Indru Netru Naalai" as both revolves around a device which can travel time. That movie is a low budget, low key star vehicle which can strictly fit itself to Blake Snyder s beat sheet. There isn't any need for a protruding romantic track or songs. This made its screenplay appealing and gripping. 24 is a high key star vehicle which requires all these. The director has to keep in mind all the sectors of audience. So he keeps the key concepts for an hour or so.

Vikram Kumar deserves appreciation to fit a mainstream hero in a high concept movie like this. The cinematographer Thiru  makes this movie a lesson, on how visuals can be framed, tone and shades can be used to show the mood of the movie.

The movie demands intelligence and correlation from a viewer. If not, some of scenes will leave a casual movie viewer perplexed. This factor can disrupt the movie in B and C areas.

Nevertheless, its a worthy intelligent script, the sort of which should be tried by all mainstream heroes.

Rating : 3.5/5

- Dinesh (https://www.facebook.com/dinesh.88560)

Checkout 24 movie page on WoodsDeck - http://www.woodsdeck.com/movies/13698-24-2016

Doing movies for mass heroes in one sense is easy. If you catch 4-5 scenes which can evoke a virtual orgasm in fans of the star or if you make 3-4 centiment loaded scenes which evoke common audience sympathy or if you make 3-4 feel good romantic scenes which can elate the mood of youngsters, then the movie works. Atlee knows this proportion and thereby wrote Theri.



On the other hand, handling the movies of mass heroes is difficult. You need to balance the flow of the plot and enshrine the hero in available hiatus. At one point, you tend to lose the focus in the plot and start bothering of the runtime. Unfortunately, Atlee faces this two especially in the last 45 minutes of the movie which make us feel tired.

But, Vijay shoulders the movie to the core. He emotes, rather has tried to emote to the core. I loved the body language of Joseph kuruvilla...A intimidated form of normal vijay. Next is him as a lover. A scene where he exchanges visual signals in a baby shower function is pretty awesome. If he comes out of templates rather if he is used up nicely by a director, he shines in a radiant manner. Atlee showcases him, his traits, his pluses to the maximum. By this he tend to cover up the pitfalls in his writing.

A bit overdone but the part which works out well for the masses is the usage of children to milk out emotions. May it be children begging at signals, a boy having chocolate at a peak time, a boy arguing with Vijay and to cap all. Nainika....I love the kid who gave her voice... Lovely..

Mahendran in contrast to the hype given is offered with a defective role. How tough a villain role should have been made with a person like this?? But it is weak and formulaic.

Finally, the movie could have been much better.. But Atlee places his fingers in all possible pies to satisfy everyone in the theatre. It works out well in the racing first half and drips down in the last minutes. Had he given the same meticulous effort as in the first half scenes, the movie would have turned massive.

Nevertheless, he has scenes to quench vijay fans, to milk emotions in family audience.. If he join with vijay for the next time, he should write an exclusive family drama or rom com for him. That's where he made him shine out.

But for casting, the screenplay, shots and the rhythm of the movie is mostly unaltered so that we get the same feel as Bangalore days gave to us.



The movie defines emotions to the core and relations to its finest form. Most multi star films have their leads as friends, but considering the fact they have to be shown as close as possible in a semi conservative society, they are cousins here. The story shows the transformation of all of them in Bangalore.

Ammu is a girl, who sacrificed her dreams and nods for marriage to a nerdy introvert. Despite, reaching her dream destination Bangalore she leads a gloomy life. Her cousins paint her life with all fun an joy. All the characters get transformed towards the end.

Love of kannan ( kutty), love of Arjun, guilt of Shivaprakash "suffocating pain" krishnan s father has all are addressed in a seemingly "feel good" manner.  It is power of Anjali Menon's screenplay that merges all the threads into a blissful "feel good" drama.

Some of the characters are seemingly "Mollywood" clichéd. Why kannan's father leaves home and goes to Goa?? The subtle line regarding Arjun's parents and the "transformation" kannan's mother pose after reaching Bangalore can be understood only if you have a "mallu" tinge in you, at least in taste.

The movie says one thing loudly. In life everything bud, blossom, flower up and wither down. Every relationships transform but for few. So love each moment in your life..

Further, it shows how CITY life can free up minds of some like kannan's mother. Its a place where archaic minds crave for modernism and modern minds seek cultural resort..

A feature of the movie which will alienate major segment of B and C audience is its "marked slowness" in narration. The first half moves in establishing all characters with almost no twists and filled with more urbanism. To say, the movie flows like a river but for twist regarding Shivadas and the final bike race.

If you are a "feel good" movie lover and haven't watched the original version, this movie will suffice. But for those who had watched in malayalam, its difficult to erase the characters from your mind and fit new ones, further you know the flow of the movie, which will dampen the feel goodie emotion..

Verdict: An optimal remake, making a first time watcher feel good.
Rating: 2.75/5

- Dinesh

Bangalore Naatkal Photos & Videos - http://www.woodsdeck.com/movies/14503-bangalore-naatkal-2016