After nine years of absence in the industry, SJ Suryah has managed to make a comeback in his Isai, which was about to release for a long time. The film was stuck in post production delay and finally saw the light of day this week. The film also marked the musical debut of SJ Suryah. How has Isai come out?

Plot

The film starts with SJ Suryah’s narration as is the customary in his films. In fact, SJ Suryah has an uncanny knack of narrating the entire story in a simple three-four line format but still manages to keep the ante throughout the film. His earlier films stand testimony to this fact. Isai starts with SJ Suryah’s voice over which says how legends across various fields – sports and arts, confront generation facelifts which is quite natural.

Like how Gavasakar took over Kapildev, how MGR was taken over by Kalaignar, how AR Rahman took over Ilaiayaraja and so forth. SJ Suryah straight away moves into the storyline by providing us simple examples like these and adds that Isai is about a musical legend Vetri Selvan (Sathyaraj) who has an unrivalled foothold in the industry for over 30 years until his assistant Shiva (SJ Suryah) takes the music scene in the industry by storm upon getting a chance from a director who Vetri Selvan was closely associated with earlier. How the stodg, jealous-filled  Sathyaraj, who stays in the outskirts of the city after being unable to fathom the towering stardom of SJ Suryah who sweeps the music scene with clear domination in just two years of his debut, manages to accept this tumultuous transition for the story.

Performances

Isai is undoubtedly Sathyaraj’s career-best performance. As a baddie Vetri Selvan, he plays to his absolute strengths – sinister dialogue delivery and reciting lines with utmost ease. And, he does it in style. Especially two scenes between his conversations with Ganja Karuppu when he serves him coffee and Azhagam Perumal when he performs him a musical note with the word thooo. Any actor would think twice and more actors would frown without batting an eyelid to do this performance which spews venom at every scene in the film. There are morally offensive dialogues in the film which are quite integral to the film, but Sathyaraj has pulled it off with his winning skills. Meanwhile, SJ Suryah also has managed to deliver a good performance as a budding, whimsical and hotheaded music composer. Savithri as SJ Suryah’s romantic interest makes a sterling debut. She shines on screen in the romance portions, though her dubbing could have been a little better. Others in the cast have done their roles well.

Plus

The film has a quite unconventional climax which needs to be appreciated with open hands. SJ Suryah’s attempt as a director is bold and courageous. He has broken several stereotypes usually associated with the Tamil film industry in this film with guts. The music is good for a debut and so is the background work too.

Minus

The romance portions in the first half are quite sluggish and sometime slow down the narrative flow. The length of the film at three hours and ten minutes is a worrying factor. The sleazy dialogues in the film, though would find some takers, would make some scowl. And, the film’s A certificate may put a speedbreaker to the family audiences.

Verdict

Isai has a path-breaking bittersweet third-act ever made in Tamil cinema with powerful performances from Sathyaraj and SJ Suryah.

Verdict : Isai has a path-breaking bittersweet third-act ever made in Tamil cinema

Stars : 3/5