'MONSTER' Film Review: Despite predictable story, Monster is enjoyable

The film opens with Anjanam Azhagiya Pillai (SJ Suryah) being an ardent disciple of Vallalar. He reads Tiruvarutpa and is compassionate towards every living being. He grows up to be an engineer at the Mylapore electricity board. His parents are on the lookout for a potential match but in vain. A girl named Meghala (Priya Bhavani Shankar) doesn’t even turn up when Anjanam visits her place and seeks her hand in marriage. Later, she calls him to apologise for being ill-mannered. They eventually start liking each other and fall in love. These scenes make for the first 30 minutes of the film. We have no clue where the film is heading and the narration becoming quite tedious. The plot begins only after a rat enters Anjanam’s house. It makes a mess of the house by tearing up Anjanam’s clothes and couch. From there on it’s a cat and mouse game between Anjanam and the rat, which is also one of the leads of the film. Towards the interval, Anjanam is able to get rid of the rat. He doesn’t kill it despite the rodent spoiling his peace. Anjanam strongly sticks to his principles. But it makes its way back to the house as the second half begins, which is enjoyable in parts as the story is highly predictable. Only towards the climax, the plot starts moving forward and doesn’t have a cliched end.

Nelson’s character sketches of Anjanam, the rat and Meghala are natural and pleasant. It is SJ Suryah’s performance that makes us sit through the film. It is top notch. His character is indeed the most challenging because, he has to imagine that there is a mouse right in front of him and messing things up for him. Priya Bhavani Shankar as a sales girl in a jewellery shop though doesn’t look convincing is justified through a suspense in the climax. Cinematographer Gokul Benoy deserves a huge applause as he has narrated half of the story from a rat’s vision on how it looks at things and what it is going through. Justin Prabhakaran too has complemented the story with his music. Overall, Monster is a decent watch.