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Chinna
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'Chinna' Lacklustre Fare

By P. Sreekumaran
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

Chinna was expected to give a much-needed boost to the sagging career fortunes of Tamil actor Arjun. It won't. For, the film, the release of which was delayed by a few days, has nothing to commend itself. In other words, the 'Action Hero' will have to cool his heels for better times.

The primary blame for the failure of Chinna must be laid at the doors of director Sunder C, who has singularly failed to inject verve and vitality into the proceedings. The pace is too slow and narration insipid. Add to it a weak and implausible story. And the result is an unmitigated disaster. Indications are that Chinna will go the way of Sunder's earlier flop ‘Giri’. One feels sad for Arjun, who was desperate for a hit.

Chinna

finds director Sunder on a weak wicket. Crisp narration, animated action, comedy and of course, a lot of oomph – these are the 'specialties' of a Sunder film. Chinna is woefully deficient in all these departments. Imaginative and judicial application of comedy could have relieved the monotony of an otherwise morbid movie. That is the biggest drawback of Chinna.

Chinna (Arjun), an orphan, is a member of a gang that is wedded to crime. The gang terrorizes the people who throng Rameshwaram, the temple town in Tamil Nadu. The locals steer clear of the gang's path for fear of harm.

It is against this murky backdrop that Gayathri (Sneha) lands in Rameshwaram. She is a marine student out to do research on coral reefs and the eco-system. She stays with her uncle (Vinu Chakravarthy).

During her stay, she witnesses the crimes perpetrated by the gang to which Chinna belongs. An infuriated Gayathri wants to lodge a complaint with the local SP (Vijayakumar). But uncle talks her out of it.

One day Gayathri looks for a guide to take her to the research locations. Chinna offers to help her at the prompting of her uncle. He takes her in a boat. The chance encounter reveals the truth to Gayathri: Chinna after all is a nice person in reality. The girl wants to reform him. In the course of time, they fall in love.

Of course, Chinna's move to mend his ways is not to the liking of the gang leader who vents his anger on Gayathri. However, Chinna rescues her, but kills the dada in the bargain. He is sentenced to life imprisonment.

Gayathri's parents use the opportunity to marry her to an engineer (Vikramaditya) much against her wishes. But Gayathri continues to pine for Chinna.

Out of jail, Chinna, fired by his obsession, looks for Gayathri. And anyone who blocks his path is killed. Will he succeed in his obsessive mission? That forms the remainder of the film.

Of course, there are telltale signs in the first half of the film which kills the suspense. The denouement therefore is predictable. That is another minus point of the film.

Arjun in the lead fails to hold audience interest. Even the action scenes, where he excels normally, leave much to be desired.

Sneha is the only silver lining. She looks sexy and fetching. But even Sneha could not rise above mediocrity thanks to the inability of the director to flesh out her character. Comedians Mansoor Ali Khan and Ponnabalam also disappoint. The music by D Imman is average. Even the hot number from Kiran leaves you pretty cold.

Prasad's camera, however, provides a feast for the eye with some fabulous frames of Rameswaram and neighbourhood.

On the whole, Chinna, which literally means small, is a big letdown for Arjun fans and the general public alike.

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