Vadivelu leaving out his usual career as comedian jumped into the zone of playing the lead roles, but often he hasn’t been successful. The actor made his debut in lead through the movie ‘Imsai Arasan’, which was a certain hit and later all his movies in lead characters turned out to be a disastrous fare. The film ‘Eli’ is again an illustration joining this league as its slow-paced narration with less interesting elements makes it a boring experience.
Location: Chennai
Period: 1960
The film is about a petty thief involved in some hilarious fraudulent acts named Eli (played by Vadivelu) On an occasion, when he robs a police officer house, they indeed hatch up a super plan to use Eli and thwart the plans of smugglers who are illegally doing business of cigarettes and bring them before justice.
There is nothing special to mention about this film for each and every department is completely disappointing. There isn’t even a single sequence that keeps us engaged or entertained and throughout the movie, the actors look confused. Didn’t they realise while penning the script whether they would be laughing or at least giggle during the discussions. It’s so dry, pathetic and leaves you restless by the very first few minutes of this film.
The actor seems to be little overconfident in what he is performing with the beliefs that there are crowds to accept what he is rendering. Sadha has no role at all and appears only by last 40 minutes of the film. Pratap Rawat, the man who played a breathtaking villainous role in Ghajini is seen as a stupid smuggler and almost all the genius actors are used like clowns here.
Musically, the background score is so annoying and the songs are disappointing. The art department deserves special mention for doing their best efforts. Yuvaraj Dhayalan has to make one thing clear. The story is somewhere and the dramatic events happening there are on the other end. What’s the point of dragging the first half for more than a hour only to begin the actual conflicts by second half with a mediocre pace.
On the whole, ‘Eli’ is a poor experience to watch and there is nothing you gain from it. It’s better to avoid this show or else the moment you have spent watching would be a restless scenario for this weekend.
Verdict: Too slow with 0% entertainment.