Zhagaram review
Zhagaram is a Tamil-language Indian adventure thriller film directed by debutant director Krish in 2019. Starring Nandha Durairaj in the lead role, the film is an adaptation of Kava Kamz’s Tamil fiction novel, Project AK. The film was named after Zha, one of the most famous and peculiar letters in the Tamil language. The film, which features music composed by Dharan Kumar, also stars Eden Kuriakose as the female protagonist, and was produced with a budget of 10 crore.
The film follows Akhil, a young man who decides to uncover the mystery behind a treasure after discovering clues left by his grandfather, an archaeologist who was on this treasure trail himself.
Accompanied by his friends, Akhil embarks on a treasure hunt, which leads them to places such as Mahabalipuram, Thanjavur and Coimbatore, while another group tries to prevent them from discovering it after the same treasure.
Zhagaram’s debutant Krish comes with the tag of being ‘a feature film made with a short film budget.’ I became skeptical after watching and reviewing some of those little films that are always awful.
Yet the fact that it’s an adventure of treasure-hunting and not a single-room drama is what made me curious and won over the sceptic inside me. The film begins with an impressive VFX sequence, supported by Dharan’s interesting background score, but all goes downhillThen thereafter. What follows is a highly resounding mixture of guerrilla shooting and royalty-free video.
In a particular sequence, for cracking a puzzle, Akhil (Nandha) and his friends decide to steal a rudraksha from the Borra Caves. You ‘d think they ‘d come up with a foolproof strategy to trick the guards and clean-handed escapes. However, no such luck.
All they do is take a stupid look around and leave the place saying they ‘re going to come back with a better idea, and the scene cuts to a Surya (Vishnu Bharath) shot casually coming out of a washroom, taking the rudraksha out of his pocket and announcing he’s already stolen it. Similarly, whenever the story moves towards a demanding sceneEven the slightest hint of decent budget, a character says, “Inga vechi venam …” and the camera cuts to a room in the hotel.
Lack of funds is not the film’s only, or even biggest, issue; the storyline’s clumsiness and making proves to be far more deadly issues. The friends turn over a pair of dice in a critical scene to an archaeologist seeking ‘expert guidance’ from her. This advice takes the form of her saying, “Idhu oru dice, idha vechi business game viladalam.” The characters all live in an alternate reality where, by just googling, they find solutions to all under the sky. Zhagaram turns into an alternative history lesson we didn’t sign up for towards the second half.
The search for the treasure of these guys seems to go on forever and they travel to more cities than all the heroes of director Hari put together — only because of the aforementioned lack of funds can we never actually see these cities.
Sometime during making, the makers themselves appear to have lost faith in their project. I say this because there are several fourth-wall breaking scenes where one character keeps saying, “10 lakhs la ivlo dhaan panna mudinjadhu.” Zhagaram also begins with a unique disclaimer that makes several claims about how it’s free from the usual cliches, such as a hero who sends villains flying with a single punch.
The search for the treasure of these guys seems to go on forever and they travel to more cities than all the heroes of director Hari put together — only because of the aforementioned lack of funds can we never actually see these cities.
Sometime during making, the makers themselves appear to have lost faith in their project. I say this because there are several fourth-wall breaking scenes where one character keeps saying, “10 lakhs la ivlo dhaan panna mudinjadhu.” Zhagaram also begins with a unique disclaimer that makes several claims about how it’s free from the usual cliches, such as a hero who sends villains flying with a single punch.
