Actor Vidhaarth who ventured in to Tamil cinema as a junior artist and went on to become a lead hero in Mynaa hits a milestone. His latest thriller drama marks his 25th film landmark. The actor was last seen in the antagonist role in Anbarivu but he is back on screens as a lead hero with his investigative thriller movie Carbon. The film is about a young man trying to find the hit and run driver that put his father in a grave condition. Actress Dhanya plays the female lead. Film maker R Srinivasan has helmed the drama. So, how has the flick come out? Is it solid enough to give actor Vidhaarth the much needed break that he is after to revive his career? To know that let us get in to the movie review.
Carbon Movie Poster
The entertainer follows the life of Shankar (Vidhaarth), a young man who gives up on his dream of becoming a police man and takes up a job in a private company. A tussle with his father Subburayan (G. Marimuthu) is the reason he had to quit on his dream. This ruptures an already difficult father son relationship. The duo is not in speaking terms and voice messages are the only mode of communication between them. Shankar possess a superpower. Events that are about to occur will play out as dreams to him. For instance, a scenario plays out in his dream where Shankar gets hit by a vehicle while on jogging. He wakes up and goes for a jog. As he witnessed in his dream, a vehicle runs on his path, he tries to get out of the way and hops to his side. He still suffers a minor injury. The shock of his life comes to him when he dreams of his father getting hit by a garbage truck. He is shaken.
Shankar does everything in his power to stop the accident to save his father. But he could not. The accident transpires leaving his father gravely injured. Subburayan is admitted to a hospital. In order to treat him, Shankar needs a hefty amount of money. The only way Shankar is going to be able to cover the medical expense is by finding the person behind the wheel and make an insurance claim. Realizing the cops are not going to work to his need, he takes it up on himself to investigate and get his man. Meanwhile, he has the same dream again. He witnesses the vehicle clearly this time, just when he is about to get a look at the driver’s face his sleep is disturbed. Next day he expects to have the same dream. We have our twist; seems like the dream would repeat no more than two times without conditions. So, we have a set of rules in play. The dream is repeated. With his sharp observations Shankar finds out that the accident was a planned attempt on his father’s life.
Why would someone want to kill Subburayan, who is the perpetrator, will Shankar bring him to justice and save his father, is what makes the rest of the flick.
Director R Srinivasan does not waste any time in setting up the premise. He jumps right at it. He opens the film with a curiosity inducing piece. Then he laces few poignant moments between the father and son to help us understand the relationship they share. After some time, he embeds a concept that is sort of like time loop except that it is not. Unfortunately, these are the positives one could talk about, about the flick. The film has its moments but nothing much comes out of it. The script indeed looks interesting on paper. But what transpires on screen is not. One of the main reasons for it is, how the break or make moments of the plot are handled. The crucial moments are ruined by loopholes that are too much to stomach. For a thriller drama, it is a heavy price to pay.
In a sense, Carbon is a very demanding film. It wants us to overlook the make-believe factors in its core concepts and only when you accept its rules it allows you to get in to its world. For instance, a person could have a same dream again and again, to do that he just needs to reconstruct the precise events that occurred on the day. If you stay and keep contemplating about the rules it sets forth, it throws you off grid. And it does not even care about it. The worst thing is, even when you make the deal it offers, it does not deliver what it promised.
Actor Vidhaarth effortlessly pulls of his part. He shoulders the film quite comfortably. Actress Dhanya does have space to perform to an extent and she has done justice to it. It is just the chemistry between the lead pair that does not quite sit well. It is refreshing to watch actor G. Marimuthu in lighter shade. He is effective as usual. Actors Munar Ramesh and Vinod Sagar are adequate. The rest of the cast has delivered what was asked of them.
On the technical front, musician Sam C. S track is not special but passable. His background score add value to the flick. Cinematographer Vivekanand Santhosham’s frames should have been better. Editor Praveen K L has done his best to cover the shortcomings of his colleague with his scissor work.
On the whole, Carbon has just about enough to get our attention for a short period but has nothing interesting to hold it throughout the film.
