Kazhugu review

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2 / 5

This film shows the lives of people who work in hill stations as corpse-retrievers. Suicide victims are aplenty in hill stations and that’s where corpse-retrievers come into play as they need to go several thousand feet down the mountain range to retrieve the dead bodies and return them back to their families. 

They are heavily dependent on alcohol to do their work due to the stench that comes from the bodies.  They call such bodies as ‘piece’ and we are shown the lives of four such retrievers led by the hero Sera (stylishly Se). Nandu, Shanmugam (Chithu) and another mute man are the others.  

The episodes showing their work and the struggles they go through, are terrific and gripping thanks to the stunning locations and Yuvan's RR.

There is a typical love story between Sera and Kavita, who happens to be the elder sister of one such suicide victim. The villain in the piece is a respected man in the village who is into illegal smuggling of goods. The film hardly has any plot other than this love story and the revenge plot which plays out in the last 20 minutes.

The film really loses steam in the finale as it becomes bloody and the body count just increases. The ending is also very very weak.

Thanks to the Kodaikanal locations, Yuvan’s neat work with the songs and the RR (particularly one scintillating accordion piece which is repeated in the movie), Krishna’s apt shaggy looks, earnest performance and the typically top notch performances by Karunaas and Thambi Ramiah, the film is a watch worthy affair most of the way. Bindu Madhavi has sharp features but is limited in expressions.

If only the ending had been different, the film would have been a winner. Still, the different premise, the visuals and music make Kazhugu a decent one-time watch.