RUMMY ("NOT A GOOD GAME")

January 31, 2014.

Cast: Vijay Sethupathy, Inigo Prabhakaran, Gayathrie.

Director: Balakrishnan.

Rummy takes us into the violent volatile villages of the 1980s Tamilnadu, a bit reminiscent of Subramaniapuram. The story starts with Shakthi (Inigo Prabhakar) joining a college in Sivagangai where he falls for Meenakshi (Gayathrie) at first sight. His roommate Joseph (Vijay Sethupathy) comes from a poor background and very soon he also falls for a girl, who happens to be the daughter of a local gangster.

Being a village where outsiders who try hitting on the local girls are seen as criminals who deserve even death as punishment for their “crime”, the romance of the lead pair soon starts creating tension. The premise as it is can be related to a lot of the films that have come of late with Madurai and the likes of it as their background; hero meets the heroine; heroine happens to be the bad guy’s daughter and after a few tense scenes a tragic climax! We have already had enough movies of that sort.

Sadly Rummy is no different, even though it has the presence of the ever dependable Vijay Sethupathy who plays more of a second hero with lesser screen time compared to Inigo Prabhakar. One wonders why in the world he chose to be part of such a film.

The director has tried to make the film engaging with sort of a multi-layered screenplay which, though has to be appreciated, fails to hold the interest of the viewers especially when the film feels way too much longer than it’s runtime of 150 minutes. The songs are passable but when they keep coming a bit too frequently and at odd times as the film progresses the patience starts wearing out faster.

Most of the scenes offer decent acting with tinges of brilliance at times (the scenes involving Vijay Sethupathy) but sadly those are abrupt and incomplete and are more like pop ups appearing when we browse the net. The romance track also suffers from the same problem offering beauty only in parts.

Very soon into the second half the film spirals out of control and becomes utterly predictable and dragging and still the songs keep coming!

Coming to the climax, it is more funny than scary and just when I was thinking if I am being a bit hard on the film 90% of the audience started laughing; though the performances were earnest the fumble in the execution takes anything worthwhile away from those scenes.

I am giving a 2.5 for Rummy. Though it’s good in parts it’s long and tiring!

Rating Scale (Out of 5)

Less than 2                   -           Unwatchable.

2    to 2.25                   -           Below average.

2.5 to 2.75                   -           Average.

       

3    to 3.25                   -           Good.

3.5 to 3.75                   -           Really Good.

4    to 4.25                   -           Great.

4.5 and above               -          Extraordinary.