A journalist (Shraddha Srinath) starts writing an article about a sensational murder. As she collects details, she gets stunned about the different versions being told by different people,
Eventually, she also understands the unpredictable and gutsy nature of the protagonist Richie (Nivin Pauly). Born as son to a priest (Prakash Raj), Richie’s path gets changed after he lands in a juvenile home for an incident that happened during his childhood.
After he comes out of the home, he takes up rowdyism as a career and becomes the henchman of a local gangster. In the meantime, a man (Natarajan Subramaniam aka Natty) flees his native after the death of his friend.
Fate has it that that the two characters meet each other. What happens in their lives is the rest of the story, which talks about friendship, betrayal and greed.
ANALYSIS:
Though Richie is a remake of Kannada hit Ulidavaru Kandanthe, many changes have been made to the screenplay, making it crisp. The movie is and realistic and a contrast from run-of-the-mill commercial dishes.
Nivin Pauly is at his best and his Tamil dialogues are convincing. He steals the show with his body language, dialogue delivery and swag. Natty has been given an equally important role and he has done justice to it.
Sharddha Srinath, who is already popular in Kollywood thanks to Vikram Vedha, sizzles as journalist. Prakash Raj delivers an experienced performance, while other members in the cast are okay.
Stunning cinematography by Pandikumar and elevating musical score by Ananeesh add immense value to Richie. Though the fim is crisply edited and stylishly shot, we could not avoid feeling stretched in parts.
Director Gautham Ramachandran, who should be lauded for delivering something different by moving away from the routine stuff, could have focused more on narration. On the whole, Richie is a rare and brave attempt.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
