Scene: Suriya Plays It Cool While a Killer Plays It Smart

Scene marks Jithu Madhavan’s Tamil debut, and the filmmaker behind the Malayalam hits Romancham and Aavesham arrives with his signature mix of humour and unpredictability intact. The film also introduces composer Sushin Shyam to Tamil cinema and reunites Suriya with a role very different from his recent run of intense heroes. He plays DSP Inbaraj, known as Inba, a laid-back, eccentric police officer with exceptional investigative instincts who is pulled back into a murder case. Opposing him is Eeswaran, a street-smart criminal positioned as his intellectual equal, played by Naslen in a performance that has drawn the film’s loudest praise.

The film’s biggest strength is the quality of its characters. Reviewers and audiences keep returning to how well Jithu Madhavan writes his three leads, with Suriya, Nazriya Nazim as Maya, and Naslen all given distinctive personalities and sharp detailing in several sequences. Suriya clearly relishes stepping outside his comfort zone, and his cheerful, unflappable cop is a refreshing change that keeps the film light on its feet. Nazriya’s role, which sees her character shift from house help to an action-ready presence in the story, marks her return to Tamil cinema after a long gap, and supporting names such as Lal, Anandaraj and Rajpriyan add colour. The first half leans into humour, while the second half is where the film turns up the mass-entertainer energy, and fans have singled out the climax and a surprise cameo as high points.

The trouble is the screenplay. Critics describe the writing as too convenient at times, and the sharpest example is the villain himself: Eeswaran is shown as a cunning psychopath for most of the film, yet he falls into the hero’s trap surprisingly easily at the end. Other reviewers say the script tries too hard to be clever, leaving the film fresh in treatment but modest in impact, and some find the first half slow to settle. Opinion has split sharply on opening day, with scores ranging from just over two out of five to nearly four, and the divide largely comes down to whether a viewer values the film’s playful tone over its tighter plotting.

In the end, Scene is an offbeat and likeable crime comedy that delivers what it promised, even if it never fully matches its own ambition. It runs about two and a half hours, and with Suriya at ease, Naslen menacing, and a director willing to take risks, it is an entertaining festive watch that falls a little short of being a genuinely sharp thriller.

Xinemas Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

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