The experience of watching Achamindri is similar to what most teachers must feel while correcting the answer sheet of an ill-prepared student. The student (director Rajapandi) wants to answer a big six-mark question, but he only knows enough to get a mark or two. So he keeps everything he knows for the last paragraph and fills reams of paper with pointless characters, songs, fights, and heroes until then.
It’s ironic because the film itself speaks about the evils of a capitalistic education system and how it torments students to produce results. But this isn’t something we understand naturally as the film progresses. One needs to sit through nearly two hours to understand why a policeman (Samuthirakani) and a pickpocket (Vijay Vasanth) are being chased by powerful goons. Even so, everything is merely told to us…nothing is felt. If dialogues are the only tool at your disposal to move your narrative forward then you’re just writing speeches, not a screenplay.
It would have been better if the director had left this question unanswered.
(The article first appeared in The Hindu.)