Maayavan Review
Director : CV Kumar
Star Cast : Sundeep Kishan, Lavanya, Daniel Balaji, Jackie Shroff
CV Kumar’s debut directorial film Maayavan is an ingenious sci-fi crime thriller. The film begins in 2037 with a bed-ridden old man and an Ilaiyaraaja’s song plays in the backdrop. Cut to the present, a crime inspector Kumaran (Sundeep Kishan) chases a petty criminal but it leads him to a cold-blooded murderer(Dheena). Shocked on seeing the brutal crime, Kumaran is shocked and while hunting for the criminal, he gets severely injured.
In order to return back to the department, Kumaran undergoes a psychological checkup only to learn about his mental trauma. Later, Kumaran and his team witness series of crime incidents similar to the first murder. In each and every crime scene, Kumaran sees a black cigarette bud, blood shades on the wall and the murders are gory. The rest of the film reveals the secret of this mysterious murderer (Maayavan).
Maayavan’s biggest strength is its solid writing (story by CV Kumar, screenplay and dialogues by Nalan Kumarasamy). The film starts as a crime thriller but slowly, the director introduces an interesting science-fiction angle. The first half of Maayavan moves at a leisure pace only to establish the prominent characters and basic conflicts. After the intermission, things get accelerated and move like a tracer bullet.
Sundeep Kishan perfectly suits the role of an angry young cop, it’s a physically demanding role and the actor has given everything for it. After Sundeep, it’s Daniel Balaji who attracts us with his versatile performance but we feel that a better actor in place of Jackie Shroff would have worked better. Lavanya Tripathi has an important role in the film but she doesn’t have much screen space. The rest of actors including Bhagavathy Perumal, Jayaprakash, and Mime Gopi have given their best.
While the writing is good in parts, the content might be complex for a majority of audiences, who prefer watching films only for regular entertainment. Unlike CV Kumar’s previous films, Maayavan looks grand, especially the production values including the multiple lab sets. 2017 seems to a dream year for Ghibran, the composer has given an impressive background score for the film. Gopi Amarnath’s stellar visuals and the racy cuts of Leo John Paul are additional attractions.
Overall, Maayavan is a well executed sci-fi thriller.
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