Oru Naal Iravil

Oru Naal Iravil is mostly a faithful remake of the Malayalam film Shutter. The protagonist, Sekar (Sathyaraj) is someone who has made it in life all by himself, toiling hard in Singapore. But he is also unfairly prejudiced and chauvinistic. He suspects his teenaged daughter of having an affair just because he sees her talking with her friends and fixes a rushed alliance, turning a deaf ear to the protest of his wife.

A drunken night with his friends lead to a moment when, out of temptation, he solicits a call girl (Anumol) he comes across on the road. He is helped by Soori (Varun), an auto driver, who does odd jobs for him in the hope that Sekar will get him a job in Singapore. They take the woman to the empty property that is part of Sekar's commercial shopping space, which is also adjacent to his home. Promising to return in some time, Soori leaves them there leaving the place locked. He meets Sethubharathi (Yugi Sethu), a down-on-luck filmmaker, who had left behind his bag (containing his new script) in his auto, but is caught by the cops for drunken driving and the duo is forced to spend the night at the police station.

Meanwhile, Sekar starts fretting over Soori's absence and with the day having dawned, finds himself trapped with the prostitute, and facing the prospect of being caught at any moment.

What's refreshing about Oru Naal Iravil is how it manages to keep us thrilled even with seemingly mundane events. The script is a crafty one, where even a single event can result in a domino effect on the lives of the characters. Soori's chance conversation with a pimp leads to a mention of it during a drunken session, and that tempts Sekar to seek the services of a call girl. And a harmless peg in an earlier scene leads to the characters finding themselves in difficult situations. It's a film where every moment is crucial to the plot and every scene is shaped by how it is edited, and we can see why editor Antony would have been attracted to make his direct...