Touring Talkies from the veteran director, S.A. Chandrasekar, is an interesting attempt where he narrates two totally different stories in one film, literally it’s like watching two movies. Pay for one and get to watch two is the director's motto here and the title he has chosen for the film also confirms this. So, how is the movie? Read on:

Cast: S.A. Chandrasekaran, Abi Saravanan, Papri Gosh, Robo Shankar, Sunulakshmi.
Music: Ilaiyaraaja
Producer: Shoba Chandrasekaran

Plot:

The first half of the movie narrates the story of an old man who goes in search of his lost love. SAC as Antony tries to do justice to bring in maximum emotions and sentiments but honestly all his attempts fall flat and the only consolation is that he plays his age. The director follows the tried and tested routine in Tamil cinema by involving flashbacks and seriously there is no surprise in this part of the story except for some performances in the climax.

The strong factor in the movie is the mood swing the director brings after the intermission. The story narrated in the second half revolves around the most debated national topic - Child molestation. It is set in a village backdrop where the atrocities made by people in power and the revenge of the affected folks forming the crux of the story. SAC has showed his intelligence by casting known "performers" like “Robo” Shankar in important roles. He plays a baddie in this serious and sensitive portrayal of child abuse and child molestation which is prevalent in our country now.

Performance

Performance wise “Robo” Shankar deserves a mention. Other than that there are only a few notable performances on screen but the show stealing performance is from the musician for the only song and the BGM department, the majestic Ilayaraja. The major talking point from the climax of the first story will be the background score. Songs too are hummable and soothing to hear.
 

Technicalities

SAC has tried to bring a different concept to Tamil cinema but after watching the movie, one is made to think whether he stopped his work after just finalizing the concept. Sourcing inspiration from Ads and news is alone not enough to make a movie. There is no seriousness from the execution Point Of View and there are a lot of logical misses which puts off the audience. Works from other technical departments are just okay.

Bottom Line

Touring Talkies is an interesting concept for Tamil cinema but flat execution and poor writing makes it bland.

Verdict : an interesting concept for Tamil cinema but flat execution and poor writing

Stars : 1.5/5