Asuraguru movie review: This film about a kleptomaniac fails to steal your heart

Somewhere down the line, while making Asuraguru, someone seems to have lost hope. Nothing else explains why the film, which kick-started with a well thought-out train heist sequence, derails to become a half-hearted chaotic mess. The robbery, which also doubles up the hero introduction scene, is inspired by a real-life heist that happened a few years ago in Tamil Nadu. This seems to be the trend now. We saw similar inspirations in Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal. From having a thief for a protagonist to a loyal supporting role to even similar car-hacking technology, the two films have a lot in common. However, Asuraguru doesn’t share the finesse, coherence and a lot more that made KKK such an enjoyable heist film. Also, that film had some great ideas stretched out as gripping sequences while Asuraguru exhausts such ideas by just throwing them away as interesting bits thrown into a generic story.

For instance, there is no moral reason behind the protagonist Shakti’s (Vikram Prabhu) robberies. What we get instead is a kleptomaniac... which is refreshing. But what the director does with this character is unintentionally hilarious at times. The uncontrollable urge to steal money hits him like drug-withdrawal symptoms: Shakti turns into Sigappu Rojakkal Dileep with killer rage and there are similar intercuts that hint at childhood trauma and an impending flashback. This psycho-thief is aided by a police friend (Jegan), who feeds him inside information. There is also another police officer Manikavasagam (Subbaraju) on the hero’s trail, and a one-dimensional contrived villain (Nagineedu) added to this mix. Dhiya (Mahima Nambiar), the female lead, is a relatively better-written role of the lot if you can excuse some pretentious character traits. She plays the role of a private detective, who investigates a robbery committed by the hero.

These parallel storylines should have converged into a gripping story but the film goes haywire. The writing becomes weak as the film inches towards the climax. A random villain walks in when the story hits a brick wall and a laughable twist seals the fate of the film. Of course, there is Yogi Babu and I got quite concerned as he comes close to getting a separate comedy track.

There are two silver linings in the film though: its two-hour length, even if it does not make the film seem smaller, and very few songs (the composers are Ganesh Raghavendra and Simon King). Even the one romantic number gets woven into the film. Somewhere, as I mentioned, the makers seems to have lost inspiration. Even the production design becomes almost insignificant towards the end. The many logical flaws and contrived coincidences further conspire to make us lose interest.