Dora Movie Review

CAST: Nayanthara, Thambi Ramaiah, Harish Uthaman

DIRECTION: Doss Ramasamy

GENRE: Horror

DURATION: 2 hours 17 minutes

DORA SYNOPSIS:

A father and a daughter buy a used car which is possessed by an unknown spirit which yearns for revenge, and gives sleepless nights to a cop and a bunch of criminals.

DORA REVIEW:

Call it the aftermath of Maya’s success or filmmakers’ confidence in Nayanthara, the actress has been roped in for handful of films, most of them riding on her shoulders. Dora is the first one to hit screens among them, and like Maya, this one, too, has been promoted as a horror flick. The film has a promising premise with enough scope for a spooky film, but the director takes too long to create interest and curiosity among viewers.

The film starts with the lives of Pavalakodi (Nayanthara) and her father Vairakkannu (Thambi Ramaiah) who adore each other. The latter wants his daughter to get married and plans to visit their ancestral temple so that his wish comes true. Both of them visit Vairakkannu’s sister, who runs a cab service, hoping that they could travel to the temple in her car. She refuses to oblige and insults the father and daughter. Pavalakodi, who takes this to heart, decides to buy a car and purchases a used Austin Cambridge.

Little does she realise that she has been attracted to the car by a mysterious force which yearns to take revenge against three criminals. After a while, she gets to know the supernatural power associated with it.

Meanwhile, a short-tempered but dedicated cop (Harish Uthaman), who is on the hunt for a few criminals following a rape and murder case, comes close to nabbing them. These two separate tracks in the film merge at one point, which is quite interesting. Pavalakodi’s first encounter with the cop, too, gives hopes for a better experience. The background story behind the mysterious force and its revenge-seeking behaviour is engaging enough. The criminals who run for their lives from cop and the supernatural power now have a tough time.

With an appealing plot in hands, where the film goes wrong is in the time it takes to establish the premise. The idea of mysterious car, its partly-convincing revenge and an investigation running in parallel is interesting, and the film has a few thrilling moments here and there. But it barely offers any scare, and the forced light-hearted scenes of Thambi Ramaiah could have been avoided to retain the seriousness of the plot.

Nayanthara tries to shoulder the film and succeeds to an extent. The music by duo Vivek-Mervin is another positive of the film, apart from the actress’ one man show. But, overall, Dora is let down by a predictable screenplay and weak scenes that have enough loopholes