Irugapatru – My Flash Review!

Family dramas and Romcoms as genres are a rarity in Tamil cinema these days.  Consumed by the “Star” and ‘Mass” fixation, films of big stars and wannabe stars have all been treading the same beaten path of extreme violence, adrenaline-pumping action sequences, revenge sagas, murder mysteries and excessive noise. Irugapatru meaning “Hold tight” in Tamil is a welcome respite to these formulaic offerings from Tamil and manages to come across as a pleasant surprise.

Right at the beginning the signals are clear that the film is pivoted around the dynamics of relationships among married couples when we are taken through some montage shots of a marriage counsellor and a psychologist throwing some quotable quotes.  In focus are three couples around whom the story alternates and who are from different walks of life and strata but with a common theme of a strained marriage.  For a Tamil film, this premise is itself very interesting. The first half of the film moves in a breeze and it seems like we are given free counselling sessions to keep our own marriages stress free by the lead character who is the counsellor cum psychologist. So far so good.

In the latter half of the film though, the screenplay loses its freshness and takes the typical Tamil serial route of being filmy and extremely contrived in terms of scenes. I thought that the story could have gone in the same direction but with better written scenes than what we get to see in the film. With the intention of not giving away any spoilers, I am not detailing some of those scenes. But for this small folly, Director Yuvaraj Dhayalan who has also written the film, gives a good account of himself in demonstrating a great understanding of the theme of “Counselling”! This comes across throughout the film in which he sets up some of the scenes involving the counsellor.

Shraddha Srinath as the counsellor at work and wife at home is a fantastic casting choice in the film.  She alternates comfortably from being at ease and confident to being vulnerable as the scene demands.  That in every frame, she looks pretty with her looks and costume choices is another plus. I am seeing her in a Tamil film after Maara where again she made a lasting impression. I am surprised we don’t see her more often in mainstream films. In this film, I must add that the writing in the last few scenes lets her character down badly yet, she holds her own in terms of her performance.

Among the other cast, Vikram Prabhu as the male lead opposite Shraddha is alright but the other standout performance is from Vidharth who leaves his impact in a few scenes. Sania Iyappan is another who is good with her role as the troubled wife in a caustic relationship.

One of the other aspects that impressed me was Justin Prabakaran’s music score. There are two songs in the film that are part of montage shots to push forward the story and they are very rich in melody. The background score is equally very good and is easy to the ears.

The film for some reason gets into a preachy and message vending mode towards the end.  The Director keeps the focus on all the ladies working hard to keep the marriage intact which I found bizarre.  The narrative arc of the lead character i.e., the counsellor is flawed in my opinion from being the super confident girl in the beginning she ends up being shown as a weak-kneed character for no reason of hers. Despite all this, the film is fairly engaging and keeps us hooked.

After having taken a less-beaten subject, the treatment sticks to the same old Tamil cinema template. Yet, I would recommend it as a “Good watch”, particularly for young married couples who may get some free counselling tips along the way. Irugapatru is now streaming on Netflix.