Damaal Dumeel – Movie Review

Cast : Vaibhav, Remya Nambeesan, Sayaji Shinde, Kota Srinivasa Rao & Others.

Music : Thaman

Cinematography : Edwin Sakay

Editing : Paramesh Krishna

Written – Direction : Shree

Production : Cameo Films

Distribution : Abi TCS Studios 

Run Time : 01:58:00

Release Date : 18-04-2014

Damaal Dumeel is a smartly written thriller complimented by tidy performances from everyone. There are two impressive things that few film-makers and producers could take cue from the film. One is the duration of the film which stands at 1 hour and 58 mins. The duration has played a huge role in not hampering the pace of the narrative in few scenes where you may frown if otherwise. That the film has no momentum-spoiling songs in the narration is another endearing aspect, let alone the introduction song in a posh pub (it never spoiled any momentum though).

Vaibhav lives in a lavish apartment, earns a handsome 70K salary per month in a lucrative IT company and has a beautiful girl friend. He staunchly believes in numerology that he writes his name as Moneykandan, not Manikandan. But, the “money” in Moneykandan, surprisingly, has a lot to with the story-line too. Vaibhav has a caring mother, who’s spending her widowhood in hometown accompanied by his sister.  Her dream is to get her daughter married to someone from a respectable and dignified family. So, she has agreed to offer 60 sovereigns of gold as dowry. One fine morning, Vaibhav was terminated from office as part of their ramp down in manpower.

Now, how will Moneykandan fulfill his mother’s wish? The termination takes a toll on him before he accidentally encounters a mystery box full of money outside his apartment. And then, all hell breaks loose. Will be he honest or covetous? Henceforth, a triangular war of sorts ensues between Shaayaji Shinde, Vaibhav and Kotta Srinivasa Rao. Kotta’s bitter-sweet villainous act puts a smile on your face at regular intervals.

The screenplay is tightly written with every single scene contributing to the narration in someway or the other. And of course, there is preaching but subtly done. For example, Vaibhav’s neighbor who pursues him for ‘BF’ DVDs (are there people who still watch films, be it any, in DVDs?), nonchalantly says how cooum river could be helpful to generate 600 MW of power if proper restorations plans are in place. Even the film’s opening scene curses white collar jobs painting them as the only reason for the deep-rooted corruption in our bureaucracy. These usual stereotyping could have been avoided, but it’s cleverly laced into the story in an implicit manner that we wouldn’t bother to hear. The climax was utterly disappointing and looks evidently contrived.

Paramesh Krishna’s willingness to use his scissors well has really paid off and Thaman’s background score is reasonably well. Barring few cliches, Dameel Dumeel is a neatly packaged thriller, thanks to the clever writing from writer-director, Shree. It makes you invest in the characters without any guilt. Though not an engrossing thriller, the film never ceases to engage in its entire run-time.