Magamuni (Review): A crime thriller with a dozen of powerful scenes | 3.5/5

There’s no shortage crime thriller movies in Tamil, but Magamuni proves that there is still plenty left in the genre. Magamuni is directed by Shanthakumar. The man who gave a dark-thriller, ‘Mounaguru’, eight years back.

Maga is a cab driver, and also close to a politician. Muni is a simple man in a village who follows Sri Vivekananda’s teachings. We follows these two characters and the people surrounding them. Santhakumar keeps even the job of Maga as a twist. It is slowly revealed after making us want to know about it.

We always know something is coming, but we’re not sure of what is going to happen, until the last half hour, and when we do, it leaves a stupendous impact. Magamuni is another winner from Santhakumar. The script is well organized, and thanks to the strong directing, we get a handful of really fantastic scenes.

A terrific crime thriller

The characters slowly grow on you. So is the intensity. There is a scene in ‘City of God’ where a girl helplessly watches police chasing down her boyfriend. Magamuni has such powerful scenes, that too, come in quick successions. To compile it in one line – Magamuni is a terrific crime thriller.

Unlike the usual heroes, here the hero have fear, and pain, and the hero makes us feel his fear and pain. It is an experience that you don’t commonly get here. Magamuni occasionally reminded me of Mahendran’s Johny, and Padmarajan’s Season.

On the downside, the ending seems bit hurried.

Maga and Muni, both the characters requires an actor who can internalize his emotions yet at the same time convey a wide range of feelings. Arya gives powerful performance in both the roles. Mahima Nambiar, looks very different from all her previous characters, is excellent as well. The person to really watch out for is Indhuja as Viji. She deserves a big break with this. This character is well sketched and performed.

The music by Thaman is incredibly terrifying and deeply adds to the film. It improves the scenes without overpowering them. And everything technical about this movie succeeds making it a near perfect film.

Watch this film now. These people deserve it. Magamuni is actually one of the most atmospheric and tense movies of this year. It will thrill you, it will break your heart and it will make you want to see Viji again.