'K13' Film Review: There is no dearth of suspense in this crisp thriller

When he tries to find out where he is and how he landed in the house, we see a girl with her wrist slit, bleeding to death. Mathi tries to recall what happened to him and the story travels to previous night. He realise that the dead girl is Malarvizhi (Shraddha Srinath), an aspiring writer. They both met in a pub the previous night. Now, Mathi tries to get out of the house. He isn’t your typical commercial film hero, who can get out of the house with a blood-stained shirt and beat everyone up to make his way out of the apartment. Instead, he tries to remove evidences. This leads to the interval block within 45 minutes. Despite the story travelling from present to past in several instances, there are no complications. Ten-minutes prior to the interval he manages to leave the house, only to come back to the house within few minutes.

The 103-minute film though begins at a slow pace in the second half, is still gripping because of its suspense. It keeps unravelling scene by scene, but an unpredictable twist in the climax makes the film a meta-narrative thriller and lifts the film entirely. The film slows down a bit in the first half with a couple of scenes that are unnecessary. That is the only flaw in the entire film. Barath keeps us engrossed with the storyline. Most of the story is narrated from Mathi’s perspective and we are a part of the suspense game along with him. Shraddha Srinath though plays a dead body for most of the film, however she still impresses us by accepting a role that other heroines would not have taken a chance with. The film is also high on technical brilliance. The majority of the story takes place inside a room. The cinematographer Arvinnd Singh has played with various colour patterns for various emotions that has helped some scenes look more engrossing than it is. Sam CS’ music is gripping for both pub scenes and the suspense that takes place within the house. Overall, K13 is worth your money.