Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavaanikalum

It seems Chimbudevan just cannot make a film without an element of fantasy. Oru Kanniyum Moonu Kalavanikalam ( OKMK), like last year's Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham, opens not on Earth but in the celestial abode of the gods. We see Bramha sitting atop a giant lotus and Naradar meeting him just in the nick of time before he goes to sleep. This talk about time makes them approach Shiva, who, to show them how every minute is important (every day has many fates in it, is how he puts it), chooses one random person in the real world to prove his theory.

That person happens to be Tamizh ( Arulnithi), a cash-strapped young man, who we see plotting a kidnap with his friends Malar ( Bindu Madhavi) and Ramanujam Esakki ( Bagavathi Perumal). They have been promised Rs 30 lakh by Hippie Lahiri (Nasser), a bling-sporting Malaysian businessman, to kidnap Isha (Ashrita), the daughter of his rival. And, oh, incidentally, Isha also happens to be Tamizh's girlfriend and so, for Tamizh, this is "Ore kallula oru manga oru thenga"!

The first hour of OKMK is a terrific, nail-biting black comedy cum thriller. We get a gun-toting, Siruvar Malar-reading cop, a chase that intercuts with a romantic backstory, a gun that is in orange, pink and yellow, and superb turns from a dozen recognizable character actors, atmospheric cinematography (by SR Kathir), sharp lines ("Kovakkara yezhai dhaan thirudan") and what seems to be an interesting development — Tamizh is shot at and we are genuinely shocked; a hero dying midway through the film?

And, then, the director cuts back to the gods and we realize his true intentions. The film instantly turns into a what-if movie — what if Tamizh had started a minute late or another minute later? The director, to his credit, acknowledges Tom Tyker's Run Lola Run, in the end credits. But, suddenly, the fizz goes away from the film as we are shown reiterations of the same set of circumstances playing out differently. And, for a film that is all about the va...