Naachiyaar movie review: This riveting Jyothika, GV Prakash starrer will keep you hooked till the end

Bala is a director who likes to take the road less travelled and makes realistic, dark and brooding films within the commercial format but with lot of blood and gore. His films have been criticised in the past for its long running time, gory themes and trademark sad endings, which leave you in a disturbed state of mind. Now, for the first time, Bala has changed tracks with Naachiyaar, which is crisp (Run Time: 100 minutes) and has a positive ending. Naachiyaar (Jyothika) is a tough as nails ACP who uses third degree methods to get confessions from criminals and also uses cuss words (muted by the censors). One of her superiors says that she is ‘rowdy’ police. At the same time she is soft from the inside, a family woman who cannot tolerate injustice and has an understanding husband, who is a gynaecologist, and a loving family. [caption id=“attachment_4354455” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jyothika in Naachiyar.[/caption] One day she comes across a minor girl Arasi (Ivana) working as a maid servant, who is supposed to have been “raped” by a vagabond slum dweller Kaathu (GV Prakash) and is now pregnant. Another police officer Feroze (Rockline Venkatesh) and his team nab Kaathu, who tells them that Arasi is his lover. Naachiyaar asks the court to be lenient in the case as it involves a pregnant minor and also sends Kaathu to a juvenile home. Naachiyaar who was planning to take a holiday with her family, cancels her leave and takes up the cause of Arasi. Her investigations open up a Pandora’s Box, as it is not an open and shut case as made out to be. The plot is wafer thin, but being a film with a running time of 100 minutes has its advantage: it’s racy and keep you hooked till the end. This time Bala has seen to it that audiences will not ask too many questions, though some of the plot twists and the way a lady police officer is portrayed is baffling. Jyothika, who has done goody-goody roles so far, is riveting in the title role as the foul-mouthed cop who uses third degree methods to get confessions out of criminals and at the same time plays the loving homemaker. Her character will make you cringe but is the surprise package in the film. GV Prakash, popularly known as the ‘virgin boy’ who has been churning out run-of-the-mill romantic comedies, has turned the tables. He has done a very difficult role so convincingly, especially in the first half. He is able to bring out the nuances and the fears that inhabit the character so well. In Bala’s last outing his regular music director, the maestro Ilayaraja, won a national award (Tharai Thappattai). In Naachiyaar, his background score enriches the film. There is only one short song in the background which is more of a narrative. There are, however, flaws in the film: like making Jyothika’s cop character do what super heroes does to bad guys in the climax, and create a halo around her invincibility. On the whole, Bala should be appreciated for making a gutsy and racy film in Naachiyaar, which leaves you in a happy state of mind at the end.