Story credit for the movie Raangi is given to director AR Murugadoss. And it takes little time for us to realize why Murugadoss opted not to move forward with this story. The supposed-to-be anti-war movie written and directed by M Saravanan is a colossal mess that misunderstands its central character’s stupidity as a journalistic curiosity. With a bizarre story that tries to link fake Facebook account repercussions with international terrorism, Raangi ridicules the audience with kindergarten-level knowledge sharing.
Thaiyal Nayagi is a journalist who writes for an online news portal. She lives with her brother, and her niece aspires to be like her for the boldness she shows. Things took a different turn when her brother approached her for help when her niece’s nude videos went online. The investigation of Thaiyal Nayagi to find the culprits behind the whole thing leads to a scenario that starts one communication between her and a terrorist in a foreign land. What all happens post that is what we see in Raangi.
The writing of the character Thaiyal Nayagi played by Trisha, is the biggest annoyance of this movie. Her behavior is unpredictable, and I am not saying it is an exciting factor. She is introduced as a fearless journalist who captures the misogynistic conversation of a police officer and publishes it on her news portal. And when the officer sends goons to her house, she handles them physically. The same wise journalist is alarmed seeing the number of sex-starving messages her niece received. The major development of the plot happens simply because of the foolish curiosity of this character to know more about a terrorist by risking the life of her brother’s daughter. The movie suddenly escalates as some international spy thriller, and it was just too many bizarre plot points for someone to comprehend.
As a young and furious journalist, Trisha definitely looks the part. But I must say that the dubbing by Raveena Ravi was a major problem, and there were moments where the lip sync was totally missing. The decision to make her this action heroine was also flawed, as she lacked the grace one would expect in pulling off action. Anaswara Rajan’s Sushmita is vital for the movie as a character. But the film offers little for Anaswara except for a foreign trip. The guy who plays the romantic terrorist is struggling to find the pitch M Saravanan was looking for.
There is a clarity issue from the director’s side on how to project this movie. It wants to be an action thriller starring Trisha, and M Saravanan actually forgets that at many places. Whenever Trisha’s character does the action in this movie, it doesn’t feel organic, and it is almost like she got possessed by Vijayasanthi. The trained professionals of the FBI can’t kill terrorists even from point blank, but an untrained Thaiyal Nayagi does that easily. There is a monologue in the film where our heroine agrees with the terrorist on certain things. And this scene that was supposed to be the reason for all the risks she takes for the terrorist looked unintentionally funny. The movie’s visual effects have a very slim budget, which is very evident. KA Sakthivel tries to break the 180-degree rule and all as part of his effort to make the movie visually compelling. But sadly, the poor writing overshadows every other technical achievement.
The foreign country of the terrorist and the FBI are blurred and muted throughout the film. I usually vouch for artistic freedom and zero censorship. But seeing how Raangi has depicted terrorists and global organizations that try to neutralize them, I kind of feel that the censorship was a smart move as it might end up agitating both parties.
With a bizarre story that tries to link fake Facebook account repercussions with international terrorism, Raangi ridicules the audience with kindergarten-level knowledge sharing.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
