Biriyani – It’s a diet, so doesn’t fill the stomach

This Venkat Prabhu diet (that’s how he calls it) starts off with the hero and his friend (you guessed it right – Premji) being chased by policemen. As usual, we don’t know why. What follows is a flashback which gives us reasons.

There are many things which come with the standard template of Tamil Cinema. I am trying to list them as early as possible so that I can get to the portion which I found interesting. Hansika’s character was a bit overdone, Premji was loud at places, Karthi didn’t do complete justice to his character and Yuvan’s music became unbearable after a while.

Now, bad things listed dot. Why Venkat Prabhu is an interesting director and Biriyani an interesting movie? The script that runs around these cliches made the movie for me. Post Nasser’s murder, the movie went in a surprising direction. I started doubting almost everyone including Ramki(interestingly cast), Jayaprakash(keeps up his standard), Sampath(very well done role except for the climax) and the hit-woman(Uma Riaz in a cool female version of Bob Biswas in Kahaani) but the climax blowed me off. Though its quite obvious that the hero will win in the end, all I remembered was the en route to the ending and that’s why VP is an interesting director. If someone can stand tall amidst all these stereotypes, he is something different.

The humor(not the loud ones by Premji) worked very well with me. There is a scene where Subbu goes to Madhumitha’s house. Amidst the heavy tension of the moment, he asks for his car which Karthi had taken. I am extremely fond of this. The implication is – all this is just for entertainment, so take it easy(Remember Mankatha’s green blood?). I was also laughing at Nasser’s interview based on his Wikipedia page. Bringing Sam Anderson and making him demand a fight scene was a masterstroke, and again that happened in a critical(supposed to be serious in any other movie) moment.

His ode to his earlier movies – the flashmob of Mankatha, the planning song from Saroja and most of his Chennai – 28 crew in different(interesting) cameos. I can’t think of any other mainstream director doing this. I am sure its not for cheap popularity. He glorifies team work(this can be seen in the end credits).

In Mankatha, I wanted one of Premji and Co to emerge as the winner. In this, I wanted Karthi to turn as the anti-hero. Our Cinemagoers are not really ready to accept such endings I guess. So, Biriyani falls as a balanced diet but that’s what it promised.

– Sai Vikneshwar