Spoilers ahead…
Arun Mohan’s intriguingly titled Sarabham is a classic noir-style mystery. It has the patsy, the femme fatale, the plot with more twists than a jalebi – what it doesn’t have is a consistent mood, and noir just isn’t noir without mood. This is one of those films where they appear to have spent so much time dotting every “i” and crossing every “t” in the story – which isn’t bad; a jolly mix of murder, kidnapping, assumed identities and other such joys that make for riveting viewing – that they’ve forgotten to do anything more. There are no memorable lines. The acting is flat (the leads are Naveen Chandra and Salony Luthra, who looks strikingly like Angelina Jolie in some angles). And there are no “moments” to speak of, those scenes we rewind in the mind and go “ahh!” The loopy twists keep us watching, but with unbitten nails and a rock-steady pulse. And what use is that?
KEY:
* Sarabham = see here
* jalebi = see here
* Salony Luthra = see here
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Baradwaj Rangan 
Vijayakumar
August 2, 2014
The heroine reminded you of Angelina Jolie? For me, it was Deepika Padukone 🙂
A common irritating thing I have been observing recently in Tamil movies is the “explanation-flashbacks” they have. In some movies like Arima Nambi it was tolerable. But this movie had so many!
I was at least happy there were no moral science lectures at the end. The girl who smoked ruled! I was clapping.
Also I would like to ask you something. You had written such a small review for this movie. This is essentially a multiplex movie whose success or failure depends on people who read the likes of The Hindu. So don’t you think this review will have a direct effect on the revenue this movie generates? For a movie like say Manjapai, I can understand when you write such a small review. It was a frustrating watch. They say it was a commercial success and in that case the audience who made it a success and your readers are from disjoint sets. I am not saying you have written a bad review, you have covered both goods and bads and you have covered whatever you wanted to in this small review, but if it is this small, it might look downright dismissive. I know I am making a lot of assumptions here and I may be wrong. I just want to know your take on this.
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brangan
August 3, 2014
Vijayakumar: There are a few things at work here:
(1) I don’t know you read me in my “Express” days. Those days, whenever I had to cover two films on the same day, I used to write a longer review for one film and a shorter one for the other.
(2) Part of this is due to the time factor. But it’s also that the film that gave me more things to talk about would get the longer review. This has nothing to do with the quality of the film. In recent times, I’ve written fairly long reviews for films like “Ramanujan” and “Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah,” both of which I found quite sad. But both films gave me lots to talk about.
(3) This particular film didn’t give me much to talk about. There was a general overall blah-ness to the proceedings. But more importantly, it was full of twists that cannot be talked about without detailed spoilers.
(4) I don’t think most people go to films based on reviews. But even if that’s true, I cannot start writing reviews with that in mind — otherwise you begin to feel sorry for every film that “at least makes an effort to do something new.” I think we have to stop this “giving a pat on the back for trying”. We should expect more than just a basic story — as is the case here. Otherwise, if we (the audience) keep getting satisfied with this, then our cinema will never grow.
(5) The one question you haven’t asked is this: “You saw lots of flaws in ‘Jigarthanda’ too. So why are you celebrating that movie even while pointing out those flaws, while dismissing this outright?”
And that comes down to personal preference. To me, what’s important in a movie isn’t its overall success/failure. The film should get my juices going. It should have a vision. It should have the fingerprints of a strong filmmaker. It should, even with its flaws, keep you watching. And this is not just about the film being “great” or “envelope pushing”. The first half of “VIP” — a very simple film, with nothing on its mind except to work for all audiences — is full of cliches, and yet, you sense the skill of the director in how he keeps you watching and smiling.
“Sarabam” did none of this to me. Hence this review.
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Vijayakumar
August 4, 2014
“I cannot start writing reviews with that in mind — otherwise you begin to feel sorry for every film that “at least makes an effort to do something new.” I think we have to stop this “giving a pat on the back for trying” “
This is very true especially for a critic, but sometimes I do feel slightly bad when someone tries something new sincerely and it goes unnoticed. As you say, there was an overall blahness in the movie. And this is definitely not a strong debut. I just wish more people watch the movie.
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AlterEgO (@skc89)
August 8, 2014
Well,For those who are feeling that the director has made an effort to do something new…Found out from a friend that this movie is ripped off from a Japanese movie G@me which was an adapted version of JAp Novel.Well not much of a effort i guess except for procuring the DVD.
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oneWithTheH
August 31, 2014
Just watched this.
I like the word you used to describe this one. blah-ness.
This is one of those movies which could have been a taut, memorable thriller with a better director at the helm. The overall direction felt like a fast-forwarded mega serial, though I should acknowledge that I didn’t see the twists coming at all. Thankfully there was no cringeworthy love angle nor the customary mysskin-style-folk numbers either. Terrible acting nevertheless, the lead guy especially. His looks of surprise during the big-reveal moments throughout were ROFL-worthy.
Btw, the heroine looked a lot like singer/RJ suchitra though some angles reminded of chinmayi sripada too.
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