377

Moser Baer is definitely up to something. They are doing a great job distributing good quality home videos for a very reasonable price in Indian market. They are buying rights from almost all other small companies which already got the rights of old movies to release the movies in their own brand. They have joined hands with Prakash Raj’s Duet movies to produce 3 Tamil movies which are currently under production. They thought of releasing the home video of ‘Mozhi’ just after one month of the release of the movie and even a release function was held but for some unknown reasons, it got released only after 6 months. Even 6 months is so early for a Tamil movie home video to hit the stands.

But above all, what surprised me the most was their recent release of a Tamil Telefilm ‘377’ on home video. ‘377’ is a collaborative effort of film institute students. If not for Moser Baer, I would never have got a chance to watch this movie. I was really surprised by the quality of the movie. Though there are some usual technical glitches due to budget limitations, it is a very good thriller better than what Tamil mainstream makers do in the name of thrillers. The topics which this movie touches upon and the way they have visualized them is a rarity even in mainstream cinema.

Plot(No Spoilers): Suddenly lot of teenage guys seem to be missing in the city and the police department transfers all these missing cases to a special investigation department who don’t wear khaakhee’s and have some special powers. Within first few minutes, we (and of course the special police) easily guess who the culprit is and within another 30 minutes or so we guess why is he doing it but the rest of the movie is all about how they confirm their doubts and trap the culprit and find all proper evidence to prove it in the court. This search of the culprit (man/woman) and the reason for disappearance of teenagers leads to quite a shocking revelation.

The screenplay is really tight with a not a frame being wasted. The two main officers involved in the investigation have two different approaches in solving the case. One (an experienced one) strongly believes in instincts and hard-to-believe magical powers and the other (a relatively young new comer) believes in real facts. The totally different way in which two police approach the same case to find the criminal and their little conflicts makes the proceedings interesting. But it is also interesting that both these methods equally contribute to the progress in the case right from finding the culprit and finally catching him with all the evidence. Though the humor is forced in some of the scenes, it works. Background score though little amateurish in the initial scenes, it heightens the impact of the scenes in the latter parts of the movie. While trying to shoot in the natural light, some of the night scenes are so dark, you can’t even see what is happening but otherwise the lighting and camera angles create the right mood and impact that a thriller genre needs. The performances are good, everyone look so casual, natural and convincing in their parts.

If you find ‘377’ in any music store, give it a try.