Inkokkadu Review

Inkokkadu Review, What’s Behind: Chiyaan Vikram hasn’t got a commercial blockbuster post ‘Aparichithudu’ in Telugu states. However, his craze hasn’t come down because of his experimentation. For the first time, Vikram played dual roles in ‘Iru Mugan’ dubbed in Telugu as ‘Inkokkadu.’ Starring Nayanathara, Nithya Menon in main leads, movie has hit Telugu and Tamil states today. Let us see, how far Vikram stood up to his mark?

Inkokkadu Story: A strange attack on Malaysian embassy is linked to a chemical innovation named ‘Speed’ which provides for excessive release of Adrenaline hormones in human body. Malaysian and Indian police forces find it tough to crack this mysterious case thus calling in ex RAW agent Akhilan (Vikram). Coincidentally, the case had its clues pointing at dreaded International criminal Love (Vikram), who actually has personal revenge with Akhilan. Now, Akhilan and Ayushi (Nithya Menon) take flight to Malaysia to trace Love. How Akhilan, Love are connected, what happened to Akhilan’s wife Meera (Nayanatahra) form the flashback. Rest of the present chase for Love is an espionage thriller blended with action, intelligence and terrific performances from main leads.

Inkokkadu Artists and Technicians: South Indian cinema is growing in standards day by day picking up old and scientifically proven concepts from Hollywood. An Asthama inhaler filled with Adrenaline pumping hormone drug is a new idea from Anand Shankar (which might be lifted from Minority Report). In fact, Anand Shankar began film on a bang establishing crux point with a high voltage action scene. Proceedings followed from here on were neatly organized to build the tempo. His basic plot is invigorating. The major thing to feel bad is about script lacking in those goose bump movements. Turns, twists and so called thrills are placed at regular intervals which of course go on expected lines with no guessing game to tease our brains. Direction wise, Anand Shankar showed competitiveness in styling, action and exploring the best out of technical and casting departments. More than all, references to ‘Speed’ connected with Hitler and World War 2 goes on to show the genuine research and great deal of effort went into penning of this story. RD Rajasekhar’s camera work is top rate capturing the beauty of Malaysia in lenses. Every frame is made a visual feast with oozing grandeur. Editing by Bhuvan Srinivasan sensed inconsistent which could have easily trimmed a few prolonged moments in second half. Harris Jayaraj’s music is a big force to reckon. BGM had quite a number of pulsating new tracks. Couple of songs are also well composed and superbly shot. Shashank Vennelakanti’s writing used advanced science jargon to keep in sync with subject. Much of the lines mouthed by Love have fallen in this category. Production values from Shibu Thameens and N Krishna Reddy are beyond excellent.

About artists, Vikram kept his blood and soul into the dual roles. He is stylish, broad shouldered and burly as Akhilan. However, Vikram makes more impact as Love with unpredictability. With an unfamiliar gender, Love dominates Akhilan with immaculate show of acting skill and dedication towards the role. The visual disparities managed by Vikram between two characters keeps us hooked. Nayanathara is ultra glamorous. Her romantic chemistry with Vikram lacked in soul and dominated in style. The way Vikram-Nayan flashback rolls up in mere 15 minutes in pre interval missed in emotional connectivity. Nithya Menon’s RAW agent act is a new cup of tea. Her prostitute getup raised few laughs. Thambi Ramaiah provided relief in a rather serious narration. Naazar is into a brief RAW Chief character. Rest of the artists hasn’t got much importance.

Inkokkadu Rating Analysis: In one line, when Robot and Seventh Sense are thrown into a grinder… the product to come out is Inkokkadu. Despite there are strong resemblances of Vikram with Rajinikanth and Suriya yet this man pinches our heart with honesty to drive whole story on his shoulders. Anand Shankar’s modern day thought process not only added an intelligence value to the story but also filled logical loopholes. Never mind, there are still many more cinematic liberties which aren’t digestive for a movie in this genre. Above all, Inkokkadu hasn’t got a racy screenplay which makes it imperfect to call a taut action thriller.

Analyzing both the halves, definitely first half is more gripping. Apparently, the pace here is also mild. Opening shots in Embassy, Vikram’s introduction, Nithya Menon’s entry and their journey to Malaysia got some speed. The actual pursuit to Love tracked with episodes on Malaysian Police, blueprints of Kipla inhaler annexed with Akhilan’s flashback and well crafted pre interval action blocks unveiling Love character are stylishly presented.

Into the second half, the film becomes quite slow and tedious. The cat and mouse game between two Vikrams is overtly dragged. With literally no back story for Love, hollowness is crept into whole characterization. Despite there are few enjoyable moments here and there, post interval the film has fell low in standards.

In totality, ‘Inkokkadu’ could have been a masterpiece investigative action thriller if Anand Shankar concentrated more on story and script. Notwithstanding the grand production values, top notch technical standards, qualitative performances from main casting team, ‘Inkokkadu’ hasn’t got any exciting stuff to pull you on edge of the seat. Vikram is a clear show stealer and alone rescuing force who makes CJ to rate Inkokkadu with 2.5 stars. All those hardcore Vikram admirers in two Telugu states can safely give a try for this weekend.

Inkokkadu Cinejosh Verdict: No ‘SPEED’

                                          Inkokkadu Cinejosh Rating: 2.5/5.0

                                                                                              Reviewed by Srivaas