Richie almost feels like a gimmick, made only to cash in on the lead actor's popularity in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere after his tantalizing performance in Alphonse Putharen's Premam (2015). For there's no other reason why someone would make such an aimless film about nothingness. Nivin Pauly stars as this rowdy hitman who works for a local ganglord and does petty jobs to stay alive after having spent nearly 8 years in a shady juvenile home. With a reporter tailing him in order to write a story, Richie finds himself at crossroads between his boss and an old friend who has something to do with his past. The film tries to showcase its lead character, Richie, as an "all-menacing guy with a heart" and uses repetitive background score to emphasize that, but that's one of the first things missing from Pauly's performance. For people who have watched and appreciated him play roles can easily attribute this failure to the amateur direction, which is also clearly visible on other actors, notably Shraddha Srinath. Director Gautham Ramachandran has styled his feature as a gangster film, but he has also tried to stuff stories about romance and friendship in between which makes him lose track of the genre. With absolute zero humor, Richie feels like a lost opportunity that could have been a better film had it been fundamentally rewritten and if a purpose could be etched out. As for its current state, this film is tasteless and unappealing. TN.
