Pencil movie review: Enjoyable in parts

Director: Mani Nagaraj

Cast: GV Prakash, Sri Divya, Shariq Haasan

Mani Nagaraj, a former assistant of Gautham Menon has tried his hands on a campus murder mystery for his debut, which is inspired from the Korean movie '4th Period Mystery'.

The movie begins interestingly with 12th standard boy Nithin (debutant Shariq Haasan) and son of a superstar being stabbed to death with a sharp pencil in is classroom.  The film goes in flashback mode and introduces the various characters in the school, one of whom can possibly be the assailant. Shiva (GV Prakash) excels in studies and the school topper who Nithin hates and they are at loggerheads; Maya (Sri Divya) their classmate a bold girl with whom Shiva has a crush. Initially, she moves freely with Nithin, but soon she realizes the nasty side of him, she warns him. Teachers Nandhini (Suja Varuni) and Sridhar (Thirumurugan) are secret lovers and one of their compromising videos is being captured by Nithin. Yet another junior girl student he blackmails, the swimming pool in charge who has a grudge on him…Cut to present, Maya sees Shiva in a convicting circumstance, but believes that he is innocent and even offers to help him to nab the culprit.

Considering this is his first screen debut, which got a delayed release, GV Prakash has been chosen aptly for the role of a plus 2 student. But, with the limited scope, he is just about adequate. In fact, it is Sri Divya’s role, which slightly dominates, but unfortunately etched unconvincingly. But her screen presence makes up for it. It is Shariq Haasan , son of star couple Uma Riyaz Khan and Riyaz Khan who walks away with all laurels. With his intimidating looks and right body language he scores big time.  All others including Suja, VTV Ganesh, Thirumurugan, Urvashi and TP Gajendran are okay in their respective parts. The first half moves in an interesting manner and neatly executed, while post interval the screenplay begins to falter with Sri Divya’s amateurish investigating and probing scenes which takes away the thrill moments.

Also, the director suddenly changes gear towards the climax and wants to incorporate a monologue message about commercialization of education (Abhishek proves his mettle here), which doesn’t gel with the genre. While songs by GVP are distractions, BGM goes well with the mood of the film. Gopi Amarnath camera is brilliant and enhances the visuals. The movie is enjoyable in parts.