Buffoon

Ashok Veerappan's debut directorial Buffoon is an engaging thriller that explores how far an ordinary man will go to save his life. Kumaran (Vaibhav) and Muthaiah (Anthakudi Ilaiyaraja) dream of going abroad, for which they need to scramble a lakh each. So they temporarily begin working as lorry drivers. But when they somehow get entangled in a drug trafficking case, their struggle to find a way out forms the rest of the film's plot. The film manages to address multiple issues through Kumaran and the people living in his orbit. Kumaran is a theru koothu kalaignan (street play artist), and is putting up a street play when we are introduced to him. Through subtle details and sequences in passing, the film manages to highlight the issues faced by such artists, who are often strapped for money. Buffoon also touches upon the issues of Sri Lankan refugees, mainly through Ilaiyaa (Anagha), Kumaran's love interest. The film's ability to seamlessly shift from the issues of street play artists to the personal problems of Kumaran, who battles a drug mafia, and a bigger political game, is how its screenplay shines.

RATED 7/10 Language: Tamil Source: Netflix

The movie is decent thriller with its own flaws. The best part of the movie is it is not boring at any moment and no speed breakers in the name of sentiment and romance.

The negative point is that the pain and situation of hero is not conveyed to the audience, may be because of lack of character development.

Another problem in the story is that the morality of each character is changing on each sequence. The romance and refugee backdrop is just used for logic in the screenplay.

With all these flaws it has some witty moments with Ilayaraja (Muthaiya).

The main problem with this Vaibhav starrer movie is it has wayward plot line that meanders between refuge escapism, who is Dhanapal, sudden act of fightback by Vaibhav. The change in narrative between these acts does not seem coherent and looks forced. It's like "It is a twist because the protagonist said so". The reveal is predictable, and the motive of protagonist changes again and again, which makes it difficult to follow and engage.

Had it been a unknown villain till the end, it would still have worked leaving the audience to judge - who is a villain. But the Director chose other ways and it did not work. Decent movie!

If you're planning to watch this movie, I would request you to wait and think about it another time. I expected a lot more from the movie.

The movie starts like a political satire and ends in a way that would leave you confused. The story revolves around an induvidual who steps out of a political party in power to start his own. An attempt to oppress the induvidual ( who also owns a cocaine mafia ) is the gist of the story.

The act performed by the stage artists were great. Vaibhav really mingles with the gang. Apart from that, nothing in the movie is appealing. The heroine part and the Srilankan tamil issues looked out of place. I must say that they could have given both these attributes more back story and screenspace. The way the story was narrated was confusing and was incomplete right from the begining. Well, not every gansta movie is like KGF but one fails to see the heriosm of anyone in this movie.

The climax of this movie is the worst part of the movie. Director should have come up with a better plot.

Good one but still expected a better climax. The screenplay was exceptional considering the directorial debut and the performances from the lead cast definitely needs a special mention and when it comes to maintaining the suspense of the entire plot the director has managed it to perfection. The climax was a partial letdown but not entirely though as there are other sequences in the movie that override the shortcomings of the climax. Its definitely a good one time watch but a must watch for the people who like the suspense factor when it comes to watching movies. This movie definitely deserves 10/10 but only partial disappointment is the climax.