After two years of 8 Thottakal, Vetri is back with another gripping thriller. He plays Saravana Levin, a young ‘curious’ man from a village, who tries to make ends meet in Chennai. Directed by VJ Gopinath and scripted by Babu Thamizh, the movie manages to engage audience.
The film starts on a slow phase with a usual cliche where Saravana (Vetri) says ‘Nanla enga oorla epdi irundhan theriyuma’ (You know how I lived in my village?) after the share auto guy asks him to come and sit in the front when some girls tried to board the auto in the city. Saravana starts explaining his village days where he was a happy-go-lucky boy.
The movie picks up momentum when the director starts showing Vetri’s another face, where he is a bookworm. A major portion of the story unfolds in Chennai where Saravana used to do odd works and finally gets employed as a juicemaker in a shop, where his friend Mani (Karunakaran), works as a tea master.
Like any other commercial movie, Saravana falls in love with Anandhi (Monica Chinnakotla), who works in a mobile recharge shop opposite to Saravana’s workplace. After failing to make a name for himself in Chennai and his jinxed affair with Anandhi, Saravana returns home in inebriated condition with Mani. Anandhi stays away from him because she finds that Saravana is not settled in life. She wants to marry the guy, who works as a government school teacher, choosen by her parents.
While walking back home, Saravana decides to go back to his village. His mother Sivakami (Rama), tells him not to come and his angry father asks him to come home only for his funeral. In a fit of rage, he throws his phone and while searching for his phone he found a purse with cash and a key.
When Saravana found out the key belonged to Lakshmi (Rohini), who has saved some jewells for her blind daughter’s marriage, he decides to rob them and hatch a plan with his friend Mani. When the duo tried to rob when Laxmi was away and her hubby who is paralayzed and her blind daughter wouldn’t know a thing, Saravana gets a call from his mother informing him about father’s heart attack. There is connection to the plot and sub-plots. And the writer deserves a pat for coming up trumps.
Vetri continues from where he left in 8 Thottakal. Karunakaran tries to evoke humour, while Monica Chinnakotla makes a brief appearance. Sharp dialogues like ‘lodda loddanu odara fan keela vilundhrumanu yosichute irundha thoonga mudiyadhu’ and brilliant background score add strength to the movie. Sundra Murthy’s music is good and appropriate for a thriller. Produced by Vetri’s father Vellapandian, Jiivi can be called a curate’s egg.