Jil Jung Juck

We have Vadivelu's omnipresence reiterated with one more movie titled with his famous dialogue from Kaadhalan - Jil... Jung... Juck... With the single track "Shoot the Kuruvi" and an interesting promo two days before its release, Jil Jung Juck enjoyed the much needed pre-release hype. Is Jil Jung Juck a Jil or a Jung or a Juck?

The opening scene of the movie takes us to an interesting plot, a period when the world is experiencing a severe fuel crisis. A drug smuggler, a petrol smuggler, a scientist, three people who are hired to transport cocaine - an interesting plot and characterisation. Siddharth as Jil, Avinash Raghudevan as Jung and Sananth Reddy as Juck are hired to deliver a pink vintage car to the Chinese which is believed to be packed with Cocaine. Deiva (Amarendran) hires them to deliver his last package of drugs after many of his recent failures in drug trafficking. Will Jil Jung Juck deliver the package at the right time? 

Of late, we see Siddharth trying diverse roles and he is back as Nanjil Sivaji. As a producer and as a protagonist, he is perfect. Sananth Reddy's performance as the innocent Juck is laudable. However, Avinash as Jung is the most entertaining of the three lead characters. With a blank expression on his face, he has the perfect looks for a comedian. Radha Ravi and Nasser are the usual supporting character materials and deliver a flawless performance. Bhagavathi Perumal has been under-utilized, sad that he did not get any meaty roles after "Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom".

Director Dheeraj Vaidhy and Mohan Ramakrishnan's dialogues are new and afresh. Art direction and VFX deserve a special mention for the spectacular treatment of few shots, escpecially the scene involving the petrol silo and the marbles. The screenplay is fast paced in the first half, with the movie shifting back and forth as there is a flashback scene for each of the primary characters. Though the plot and the line-up of characters is interesting, the screenplay lacks the much needed element of suspense until the last fifteen minutes. There are lengthy scenes which makes the second half a little dragging. A movie tagged with "Comedy" genre tries hard to evoke laughter in most parts. Despite the comedy ingredients ranging from adult comedy to slapstick comedy, a very few scenes evoke laughter. The film falls yards short of the boundary line, with a dragging second half attempting the comedy route. The final 15 minutes of the movie provides relief to the otherwise dull second half. 

Vishal Chandrasekhar deserves a special stanza in this review - the sole hero of the movie. Right from his "Shoot the Kuruvi" to background score he has delivered his best in an experimental album. The music adapts to the wacky nature of the movie and compliments the picturization. The carnatic dubstep that is played in the background during the burst of the petrol silo and the chase that unfolds - height of experimentation. With the next-gen musicians forming a line-up with Santhosh Narayanan, Anirudh, Sean Roldan to name a few, Vishal finds his place in the list with a thumbs-up from the audience. "Shoot the Kuruvi" with the end credits rolling, makes the audience sit through till the end card - a winning moment for Vishal!

Bottomline - Jil Jung Juck, definitely not a Jil or a Juck!