Tuesday Sep 16 2008, Chennai

‘Alibhabha'- Racy, colourful, predicable!

Directed by - Neelan.K.Sekar

Produced by - Pattiyal Sekar and Sanjeev Kapoor

Music by - Vidyasagar

Casts - Krishna, Janani, Prakashraj, Biju Menon, Lollu Sabha Jeeva, Azhagam Perumal, Radha Ravi etc

Banner - Talking Times Movies Pvt. Ltd

‘Alibhabha’, the launch pad of director Vishnuvardhan's brother Krishna, has come out as an unpredictable suspense thriller laced with sufficient dosage of humour.The film begins with an interesting sequence which introduces the protagonist (Krishna) and his father (Parakashraj) in a rather different light.Velu (Krishna) is the son of Subramaniam (Prakashraj), a seasoned and clever thief.They master the art of theft and work as a gang along with many youngsters.Velu, during one of his con jobs, meets and falls for Janani (Janani), a girl working in a bank.

The narrative also shows some girls getting killed mysteriously.The police commissioner (Biju Menon) is not happy with the developments and takes over the investigation from the DCP (Azhagam Perumal).Velu, after falling for Janani, wants to give up his criminal activities.Anyway, he is surprised at money being pumped into his bank account by some anonymous person.He gets richer by Rs.

80 lakhs and he spends the money without realizing that he is caught in a trap.Subramaniam, who smells a rat, almost finds the man and the larger crime behind the conspiracy.But he is killed and the son sets out to avenge the father’s murder.The second half deals with how he goes about the mission.While the first half is neat and entertaining, the second half fails to live up to expectations.

The director’s attempt to portray Krishna as a full-fledged action hero in his first movie itself makes the proceedings in the second half lack intelligence.The film has a racy start with colourful incidents.The first half is colourful, humorous and entertaining but the second half, despite maintaining the suspense, falters towards the end, as the narrative becomes single dimensional.The director has done a commendable job in creating the right platform for a suspense crime story with a lot of twists and turns in the narrative.But the film becomes predictable after a point and hence makes the proceedings less interesting towards the climax.

Debutant Krishna does well in stunt sequences, comedy and dance.But too much of dependence on action sequences has marred his attempt to make a memorable debut.Newcomer Janani has nothing to do and hence fails to impress.The powerful performances by the seasoned brigade – Prakashraj, Thilakan, Biju Menon, and Azhagam Perumal – form the backbone of the narrative.Dhinesh Kumar has done a neat job with camera while V.

T.Vijayan has helped the narrative look smart.Vidyasagar's music and the re-recording leave much to be desired.Neelan has proved his potential as a director but had he given more importance to the second half the movie could have been far better.