Chennai, India – Sajeev Pazhoor, the first-time director of Enna Vilai, is no ordinary writer. He’s written the new-age Malayalam classic Thondimuthalum Drikshakshiyum, and the directors who have worked on his scripts include Dileesh Pothan, G. Prajith, and the master Shaji N. Karun. Sajeev has also made dozens of documentaries and short films before turning director with Enna Vilai, a Tamil drama set in Rameshwaram. What shines through, even at a premise level, is this writer’s mind and a short story-like quality that could have been made into a better film.
This quality is evident even with the opening montage that sets the tone for Thavasi’s (Karunas) story. They’re a family of fishermen who live in Rameshwaram and do their best to ensure their kids end up with better lives than theirs. Not only is Thavasi a fisherman, but he supplements his income by diving into the sea to collect coins left behind by pilgrims visiting the temple town. These portions brim with life and are made up of little snippets that make you experience the everyday routines of people like Thavasi.
So, what happens when Thavasi dives deep one day to discover a golden medallion at the bottom of the seabed? Such questions keep popping up as we see Thavasi gradually become a lot more important to the system than he was as a regular fisherman. The film also puts forward high-voltage questions about morality, corruption, and India’s age-old legal system. It also transforms from a personal story about one man and his luck into a bloated courtroom drama. This is where you begin to see the limitations of Sajeev as a filmmaker. As the film focuses solely on courtroom proceedings, the staging begins to look awkward, and the dialogue sounds reused from older films.
Must Read: Legendary Actor Anant Nag to Be Honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Award
As the film goes deeper into this debate, the legalese becomes so repetitive and uninspired that you feel like someone’s reading out the case notes. Apart from the lead actors—Nimisha Sajayan plays the role of a lawyer—you feel the crudeness even in the performances. Actors like Mohan Raman and Kavithalaya Krishnan abandon all semblance of subtlety to play uni-dimensional villains. Into its third act, the film tries to paper over its shortcomings with deus ex machina situations and a convenient resolution. The specificity and the life from the first act go missing, and high-pitched melodrama becomes the order of the day. As an unfussy short story, Enna Vilai may have lots to offer, but seen purely as a courtroom drama, there’s no case to be made.
