Noodles Movie Review: Bland, messy and over-stretched offering

Power and misuse. These two words are hazardous when put together. It takes two to tango in this game for everything to go awry. News of custodial torture and abuse of power has headlined papers, stirred conversations, and propelled action in a few cases, but many are yet to see the light of the day. Visaaranai, Kavalthurai Ungal Nanban, and Jai Bhim, among others, have showcased police brutality in its rawest form, moving away from the trope of heroes inflicting violence on the accused for a few cheers and hoots.

Noodles also aims and attempts to showcase what happens when power rests in the hands of a few who decide to abuse it by inflicting it upon the public. Directed by Madhan Dhakshinamoorthy in his directorial debut, the story revolves around Saravanan (Harish Uthaman), his wife Sheela Rajkumar (Shakthi) and their daughter who are trying to save themselves from an unexpected situation. Meanwhile, more trouble knocks on the door as inspector Elango, (Madhan) with whom they have previously had a scuffle, brews up a fresh problem.

At the outset, Noodles deals with multiple levels of issues in its storyline. With a wafer-thin plot dealing with a tussle between a policeman and a family, the film could have easily worked as a short film. Instead, the over-stretched one-and-a-half-hour runtime makes it barely effective. Until the mid-point, you don’t see the central conflict arriving. When it finally does, the delivery is clumsy. The out-of-sync dubbing portions for Harish Uthaman and a few other characters add to the misery.

You see the obstacles in the story arriving for the family from a mile away. A cat crosses Saravanan’s path, his daughter has a nightmare, and he gets into a biff with an auto driver. The situations are ominous and obvious.

While attempting to solve one crisis in hand, Sheela explains what happened at least four times, blames herself for it and the family breaks down in disbelief looking at what unfolded in front of them. When Madhan enters, he too goes on to distressing the couple (and the audience), confronting them with similar questions repeatedly. This gets frustrating as the central characters move around in circles trying to prove a point without progressing further. A lot could have been explored within those few scenes. Instead, they choose not to. 

Although Harish Uthaman and Sheela deliver decent performances, it is actor Vasant Marimuthu who gets a memorable screen time. He makes his entry as a talkative and scaredy cat lawyer named Thirunavukkarasu and provides comic relief when the story gets too monotonous. Madhan as an actor is skillful in his role as Elango who works to fulfil the duty of a villain whom everyone wants to do away with. Although not his best, the character fits him like a glove.

What saves Noodles from being a shoddy film is its final act. Is it really effective? Probably not. But nevertheless, it rescues this plot from an overly stretched packet of mess. At one point, I just wanted the film to end suddenly instead of being dragged on. Oh boy! My wishes came true and the film did end abruptly; without a gratifying resolution or so. Maybe I should have wished for a gripping thriller when I entered the theatre.