Director: Barath Neelakantan
Cast: Arulnithi, Shraddha Srinath
K-13 opens with shots of the male protagonist Madhiazhagan aka Mathi (Arulnithi) tied clumsily to a chair with the corpse of Malarvizhi aka Malar (Shraddha Srinath) bundled up on a couch behind him, in an apparent case of suicide. Freeing himself, he starts recollecting events from the previous night in order to make sense of this predicament.
Mathi is an aspiring filmmaker, yet to get the rub of the green. He’s had his story lifted by a friend, a project stalled ten days into shoot due to budgetary constraints and now, faces pressure at home to explore an alternative career path. Coaxed to drink away his sorrows, he joins his friends at a watering hole where he chances upon Malar. Malar is a writer herself, currently in a spot due to Writer’s Block after publishing her first book. Mathi gets invited by Malar to her place, apparently for a one-night stand and things obviously don’t go to plan, as he finds himself next morning tied up next to her corpse on the top floor of a high-rise building! Mathi’s immediate attention is drawn to wiping out fingerprints and any other traces of his presence from the scene. He also tries to work out a perilous escape route that involves slipping out through a window and dangling on the pipes outside (Aravind Singh’s cinematography is top notch). He is faced by constant obstacles though: the sudden appearance of a Policewoman, a shady neighbour and disturbing revelations about Malar’s past that he is able to gather, that could possibly explain the current situation.
K13, despite being built on a potentially interesting premise, fails to impress due to a multitude of reasons. For starters, the core story behind Malar’s urge to take her own life is quite weak and doesn’t really hold water. Except for the lead actors, the acting is amateurish and none of the support cast really make their presence felt (Yogi Babu’s three-and-a-half-minute cameo notwithstanding). The screenplay itself feels rather lopsided- the parts towards the end, where a twist is also placed, are all rushed up and beg for more of the running time. Sam CS tries his best to up the tempo through his score, but the writing is just too ordinary and lacking in punch that this genre demands. In the opening sequences, the camera often pans to the walls of Malar’s house where the word ‘Sorry’ seems to be scribbled in large bold letters. You wonder if this is the Director’s apology in advance to the audience for this rather drab affair.
Overall rating: 1.5/5
