Jayam Ravi, Music, EditingJayam Ravi, Music, EditingScreenplay, Poor CGI, Production values, Logic Loopholes
Jayam Ravi has been one actor who tries to explore different genres and play unique roles, right from his comeback blockbuster Thani Oruvan. This time around, he has reunited with the director of his Miruthan, Tamil's first zombie flick, Shakthi Soundarrajan, to deliver Tik Tik Tik, India's first space film. Here's team AP Herald's exclusive FDFS Tik Tik Tik review.
The film begins with a part of Chennai being attacked by an asteroid, and astronauts and scientists foreseeing another huge asteroid attack which can destroy the nation. The asteroid is set to hit the planet within 7 days, and that is when the ISRO decide to negotiate and rope in Vasu( Jayam Ravi), a magician and escape artist, to form a team with Swathi (Nivetha Pethuraj), Venkat (Ramesh Thilak), Raghuram(Vincent Asokan) and Appu (Arjunan), and travel to the space, with a mission aimed at using a missile to destroy the asteroid in space, even before it reaches earth, and save the planet.
Jayam Ravi as Vasu, excels with the role that offers him multiple shades, and he performs contrasting for the various shades, be it the magician act where he looks demonic or the family bonding scenes with Aarav, Ravi is a revelation and has come a long way from his Jayam days. Nivetha Pethuraj gets a meaty role to play and looks stylish and glam as well. Aaron Aziz looks menacing, with his evil moves. Ramesh Thilak and Arjunan provide some comic relief blending with the screenplay, while the rest of the cast including Vincent Asokan, Jayaprakash and Balaji are adequate.
Background score by D.Imman is scintillating, and perfectly matches the mood of the movie, elevating several sequences to a different level altogether. Of his songs, Kurumba, TikTik Tik title track is appealing. S Venkatesh's cinematography is top notch as it presents the CG heavy shots, and the action sequences perfectly, offering a visually appealing product. Pradeep E Raghav's editing could have been taut, as the movie suffers from drags at many places.
After having made a bank heist flick (Nanayam), a dog flick( Naaigal Jaakirathai) and a Zombie flick (Miruthan), director Shakthi Soundarrajan has this time opted for a completely new genre for Indian cinema, as he has ventured into space for Tik Tik Tik. With the genre being new to Indian films but with the audience being exposed to the space flick genre with Hollywood flicks like Contact, Apollo 13, Mission to Mars, Interstellar etc to name a few, there was always the pressure on Shakthi to evade comparisons, and deliver a quality product.
However, Shakti has opted for a beaten to death plot of saving the earth from an asteroid, while trying to make the whole genre Indianised, with the father-son bonding, just like how he had diluted the zombie flick Miruthan with a sister sentiment track. While Jayam Ravi and Nivetha Pethuraj deliver earnest performances, Tik Tik Tik suffers from heavy drags, as the screenplay wavers constantly, and the second half has many unwarranted episodes, which lack conviction, and the logic is gone for a toss.
Though D Imman and Venkatesh provide good support, the film lacks heavily in one area, which happens to be the key - CG. Tik Tik Tik has very mediocre CG shots, which makes the visual experience tiresome and unappealing. All said, Tik Tik Tik tries happens to be the first space flick of India but fails to fall in the category of best space flicks, thanks to a weak and predictable screenplay and logical loopholes.
Jayam Ravi,Nivetha Pethuraj,Shakti Soundar Rajan,Hitesh Jhabak,D. ImmanLogical loopholes and unimpressive CG impact this space travel.
