GETHU
Cert 12A
118 mins
BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence
During the past five years I have been interested to note how Indian movies have steadily reduced in length.
Nowadays, they are fairly regularly under two hours, making the need for an intermission seem questionable.
However, despite being curtailed they are regularly not as honed as their Western counterparts.
Gethu is a classic example where greater focus could have made for a much better film. Sadly, it meanders off in myriad tangents and only in its last 20 minutes does it really grab.
The film starts with an assassin with piercing green eyes firing a gun and seems to lay the premise of a thriller.
Then it becomes a love story between a librarian (Udhayanidhi Stalin) and a beautiful girl (Amy Jackson) who is addicted to stealing books.
But Jackson, whose impishness had been a feature of the first half of the movie, simply disappears without comment for the rest of the film.
The love story melts away and there becomes a violent confrontation between some ruthless bar owners and the librarian's teacher dad (Sathyaraj).
And somehow it all leads back to the assassin.
Frankly, I was lost. How does a librarian learn the skills needed to beat up henchman? What happened to his new-found love? Just two of a score of questions I wanted to pose.
Gethu goes from light comedy to a film which is altogether darker.
Its catchy tunes are replaced by melodramatic incidental music which repeats over and over.
It attempts to be what the Indians would call a masala movie but is actually just a mess.
Reasons to watch: catchy songs and attractive Indian countryside
Reasons to avoid: just doesn't flow because it is so disjointed
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 3.5/10
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Udhay 