‘Sirens’ movie review: Jayam Ravi-Khirthy Suresh crime drama strays from plot and fails to impress

Much of the merit of South Indian films – except perhaps those from Kerala – is eroded by deafening background scores. The nuances of the dialogue and writing get lost in the noise, and the movie often starts to seem dull and bland. Anthony Bajraj (Hero, Annette)’s latest foray into cinema, Siren, is a simple tale of revenge that follows a lifer in prison and a young policewoman who takes control of the courtroom .

Jayam Ravi’s rather dull piece follows ambulance driver Thilagan’s grief after discovering that his mute wife Jennifer (Anupama Parameswaran) has been murdered Desperate story. It’s unclear why this happened, but as we later learn, the three men who committed this horrific crime walked free, and Tiraghan made it his life’s mission to play vigilante.

Policewoman Nandini (Kirti Suresh) is determined to corner Thiragam. Tiraghan spent several years in prison for a murder, but was ostensibly released on parole to see his young daughter. But the police speculated that he had ulterior motives for going out. What follows is a game of cat and mouse as Nandini tries to catch him while Thiragam manages to stay one step ahead of her as he continues his evil enterprise.

Incredibly, he even deceives Veerankani (Yogi Babu), the shadow policeman assigned to guard Thiragam. Comedy – courtesy of Yogi – is another bane of Tamil cinema – and it looms large in this serious thriller. The Yogi scene looks childish and takes our attention away from the core of the plot – which is a series of murders.

That’s not all. The casting seems very unimaginative. Kirti hardly fits the image of a police officer and perhaps Samuthirakani, who plays the deputy commissioner of police Nagalingam, is the ideal choice here. Instead, he became a bad guy.

Some writers describe sirens as family entertainers. Really! This movie has a lot of gory scenes and some of them are horrifying. I don’t even understand why it didn’t get an adult-only certificate.

Now comes the moot point. Do sirens chirp loudly? I saw it in a swanky theater in downtown Chennai. There were only 15 people at the first show. As word of mouth may not be so good, “Sirens” may not be a full-blown hit. Clearly, the movie needs to hit the mark: no silly comedy stuff and fancy songs and dances amidst a serious subject like the Sirens. These distract us from the core idea, which is murder and revenge.