Jiivi Review
Star Cast : Vetri, Rohini, Karunakaran, Rama, Mime Gopi
Director : Gopinath
Debutant director VJ Gopinath’s Jiivi is a solid mystery thriller with the unexplored synchronicity angle which is sure to be the biggest talking point of the film. In an industry filled with stereotypes and cliched dialogues, it’s good to see two newcomers Gopinath and dialogue writer Babu Tamizh bring in the much-needed novelty with their sharp writing skills.
As the title suggests, Jiivi’s protagonist Saravanan (Vetri) is super brilliant. Though Saravanan is poor at academics, he acquires practical knowledge by reading several books, theories, and YouTube videos to experiment in his day-to-day life. Due to the constant pressure from his parents, Saravanan comes to Chennai and does odd jobs to earn money. Things go smoothly until Saravanan’s girlfriend rejects him for his substandard economic condition.
Meanwhile, Saravanan and his friend Mani (Karunakaran) coincidentally gets the key to the locker of their landlady (Rohini) who has 50 sovereign gold for the marriage of her visually challenged daughter. Saravanan uses all his acquired knowledge to steal the gold and successfully pull it off. But at the end of the mission, Saravanan comes to know that his dad passed away due to a sudden heart attack and his sister elopes with someone. Slowly, he understands that there is a strange coincidence between things happening in his family and the landlady’s family, that’s where the concept of synchronicity gets explained in detail.
Both Gopinath and Babu Tamizh has flawlessly sketched the characterization of Saravanan who is a voracious reader and always curious to know about unknown things. Initially, we are shown how his intelligence is used to divert the attention of the cops and only later, we get to know about the synchronicity. The end twist with the Triangle Effect is another genius move by the duo.
In recent times, Jiiva is a rare film in Tamil where the writing outshines all other aspects including the performance of the actors and technicalities. The dialogues on God, effigy, the difference between rich and poor, and girl’s life are sure to be featured in the modern day memes
Vetri was criticized for his acting in 8 Thottakkal (another brilliant cop thriller) but in Jiivi, he has improved. After Soodhu Kavvum, Karunakaran has got a full-fledged role and fully justified role with his innocent performance. The rest of actors including Mime Gopi, Rohini, and Rama are adequate.
KS Sundara Murthy’s background score justified the mystery thriller genre and DOP Praveen Kumar has also done a commendable job with vivid lighting to suit the mood of various emotions. Editor Praveen KL has once again presented a complex film without any confusions to the layman.
Overall, Jiivi joins the team of interesting mystery thrillers released this year. If you are a fan of films like Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru, Thadam, and Sathuranga Vettai, Jiivi is the kind of film you can invest time!
