Enemy of the Smuggler Movie Review:

Agatha Christie, one of the most celebrated authors whose works have been adapted into films worldwide, drew heavily on her experience as a World War I nurse and her interactions with injured Belgian soldiers and refugees in her novels. Employing the names and purposes of certain medicines and poisons in her thrillers, and the inception of the popular Belgian detective Hercule Poirot are the brainchildren of Christie's World War I experience. It is exciting to see what a thorough professional powered by niche knowledge in a field brings to the pages or screen. This initial excitement evaporates in T Samaya Murali's Enemy of the Smuggler. The filmmaker, an IRS officer, offers a peek into the murky world of smuggling through seaports and how Customs officials sometimes act as conduits for dirty jobs. Instead of creating an engrossing world where he could sprinkle in his insider perspectives, Samaya Murali offers an exhaustive checklist of facts packaged as a film and clears it through the port. He gets caught.

The film has Amar (Saran) bruised after a fall from his bike, getting hit by some henchmen. The story then goes on to tell how Amar, with pressing debts and the necessity to earn more to get back his family's house, is thrust into the world of smuggling and how his menial job at the Customs office proves to be a golden ticket for his new and dangerous profession.

Speaking of the positives first, the film, thankfully, resists the temptation of films of its kind to introduce too many gangs and convolute the story. Of course there are other things to do that in the screenplay later on. But avoidance of the usual excruciating exercise is a small mercy you will be grateful for. Also, Tamil cinema has given the audience an entry into numerous Government offices like the Road Transport Office and Tahsildar's Office. But rarely have they been more than just places of rustling pages, ringing telephones, pulling of screechy cupboards, and tapping of ink pads. The short-lived attraction in Enemy...... comes from the introduction of the Customs officials' lesser-known routine in clearing containers and the blind spots in the process wrongdoers exploit. Wish there were many such positives about the film.

Director: T Samaya Murali

Cast: Saran, Radikaa Sarathkumar, Lal, JD Chakravarthy, Smeha

The film's undoing, too, comes with that in a way. The director is too indulgent with the Customs paraphernalia, so much that he forgets he is supposed to build a story around it and not dish out a news report package. This is where the proceedings take a nosedive; none of the characters, their ambitions, and emotional stakes ever stick. On top of it, the glaring dubbing inconsistencies get irritating after a point. The director takes a cookie-cutter approach in introducing a lifeless family angle and romantic track for Amar. He takes meticulous caution not to give Amar's mother (Radikaa Sarathkumar) or his wife Pavithra (Smeha) a single noticeable scene. But thrust-in "sentiment" and "love" scenes are there only to underline that Amar will be baited through the two.

"Kudos" to the director for democratically offering everyone, including himself, a raw deal. Except for Lingam's (JD Chakravarthy) slow-motion "serious" gestures and Kadhar alias Michael Bhai's (Lal) gaudy costumes, nothing makes a case for how dangerous they are. Despite a lacklustre first half, the second half held promise due to the big-heist-unfamiliar-territory template. Now it is natural for one to expect the unexpected hurdles and the thrills that accompany Amar operating from a different port and a much bigger consignment. But no. An intelligent and upright officer -- again, nothing except slow-motion shots suggest this -- (Samaya Murali) displays his "smarts" and enters the scene to foil the criminal plot. This choice neither serves Samaya Murali's interest in displaying his acting finesse nor the story's. As the "twists" kept coming towards the end, similar to how contraband materials are embedded in legal goods, you find yourself buried amidst countless mentions of containers, consignments, and syndicates. The film introduces Samaya Murali's officer as a torture specialist who tests the endurance levels of even the toughest nut to crack. That is true in more than one way.

Watching a good premise get botched up will instantly remind you of films that got it right. You can't help but think of how well late filmmaker KV Anand wove personal stories into the world of smuggling in Ayan. Enemy of the Smuggler, despite having an exceptional star cast and a niche plot, falters spectacularly as it loses sight of its priorities. In a bid to oversell himself, Samaya Murali fumbles with the most elemental things in a film: character arcs, motives, performances, plot devices, and screenplay rhythm.