Pulan Visaranai 2 (2015)

The first Pulan Visaranai was, despite its B-movie cred, an effective thriller. This sequel, which has nothing in common with that film save for Anand Raj once again playing a murderer, has been lying in the cans for long and that is blatantly evident when you watch it. The visuals lack sheen, the editing is jerky and at times disorienting (a song pops out of nowhere after a shootout), actors' voices change perceptibly in the same scene with someone else dubbing over the lines which include facts and figures, and there is an unmistakable late 80s ethos in the filmmaking.

The plot revolves around a cover-up of the murder of a team of workers from a petroleum plan. Sabarathinam, a cop, realizes that there are political and economic forces at play here, and that the mega-rich businessman Rakesh Khetan has a hand in this. But, as he starts digging deeper, his family becomes a casualty and Saba has to cross the line to ensure that justice is done for the victims and also save the nation from the evil machinations of Rakesh.

RK Selvamani (whose credit appears thrice in the titles) touches upon everything from petrol prices to black money, bureaucratic corruption, and megalomaniac businessman to tell this investigative thriller that is not satisfying as both a thriller and a political commentary. The film begins promisingly as we witness a luridly staged murder and there are some exciting chasing scenes filmed in crowded streets. The basic premise is quite interesting but Pulan Visarani 2 often ends up being unintentionally funny (in the climactic court scene, a lawyer asks why Shah Jahan is being called the builder of Taj Mahal when it was the labourers who erected it to counter his rival who tries to save Rakesh by saying that he did not personally murder the accident victims), with barely functional performances from the cast. The re-recording by SP venkatesh is unbearably loud; even a simple camera pan is accompanied by a crashing BGM. Prashanth gets an introduction scene that echoes Vijayakanth's introduction scene in Captain Prabhakaran while Karthika appears just to dance in a song and then be killed by the villain's henchmen. As the villain, RK is a total contrast to Sarath Kumar, who was absolutely frightening in the first film (which gave him his big break), and looks like he is having a bad hair day. He is mostly seen along with planes, sea planes, boats, bikini babes and suited henchmen that it is hard to take him as a mastermind who wants to control every business in India.