Sunny ( Malayalam) - Locke inspired ? Raame Aandalum Raavane Aandalum ( Tamil) ; Fails to connect

 In 2013 a movie Locke got  Tom Hardy the best actor award from LA Film critics Association. Replant the same plot in Covid times and change the settings - it is Sunny. This film will no doubt get  Jayasurya  a couple of awards .  Even to the viewer who has not seen Locke , it is a disappointment as things move on there is nothing that holds you connected to the main character.  

Raame Aandalum Raavane Aandalum  lays the foundation for a very good story framework to unwind and starts out fine. It then begins to falter as it wants to squeeze in every issue going on to make it appealing to all sections of the viewers.  The director at times takes the Shankar style approach and shifts back to his  and then feels that the viewers could have missed the points and so he resorts to verbal explanation.

Sunny directed by Ranjit Sankar is set in a Covid 19 lockdown situation. By linking to the main character as a Gulf returnee, it connects to the Kerala audience instantly. What follows is a series of phone conversations with main character and the outside world. The film is intended to give hope to an audience that is undergoing lockdown and quarantine. Sadly , there is hardly any lockdown or quarantine in place today. To add to this the goings on just gives you a feel of a spectator and not some one who feels for Sunny. Technically brilliant as it requires quite a skill to keep you watching a guy in a hotel room for almost 90 minutes.

Raame Aandalum Raavane Aandalum  has given two good actors -  Mithun Manickam and Ramya Pandian. to Tamil screen. Arisil Moorthy does have the potential but probably to not take chances puts in all the spices into the dish to make his first offering, a delight to all. Needless to say M Sukumar is soul of the film and Krishh two songs in the first half are good but others ----