Burma is a 2014 Tamil crime movie directed by Dharani Dharan and produced by Sudharshan Vembutty under the banner Square Stone Films. It features Michael Thangadurai and Reshmi Menon in the lead roles, while Sampath Raj, Atul Kulkarni, Karthik Sabesh and Madhu Raghuram play supporting roles. The music was scored by Sudharshan M Kumar, while cinematography and editing were handled by Yuva and Vivek Harshan. The film released on 12 September 2014.
Burma is a tale of a man, who makes living out of car seizing. The film is majorly around one of his seizing assignments and the many crime stories intertwined to that one particular car. To begin on a positive note, Michael as Burma aka Paramanandham, with his rugged, mustachioed, but smart looks, goes well with the character. On the other hand Reshmi Menon, plays the typical bubbly Tamil girl and provides the much required charm and softness to the otherwise intense subject. Sampath plays Guna, Burma’s crooked competitor and he looks very comfortable in this kind of characters. Atul Kulkarni as Settu, the boss is very convincing. He carries the role with a cool head and composure.
The other plus is that the film has been packaged in a standard gangster movie template that seems to work pretty well lately. With flashy cars and costumes, funky music, rugged men, necessary heroics and rich visuals, the film looks sleek and stylish. Sudharshan M Kumar’s background scores are heavily influenced by the western contemporary style of music and it goes very well with the story. As far as Yuva’s visual, they are rich in canvas and incredibly innovative. Despite minimal movements, his inventive compositions are picturesque and laudable. A fixed top angle shot during the beginning of the movie, framed from the top of a windmill is literally the height of innovation we are talking about.
Coming to the downside, the dialogues at some places, particularly in a few romance sequences are clichéd and cheesy. There is also a serious lack of engaging factor in the first half of the movie, with the song placements playing a major role in the drag. Although, senior actors Atul Kulkarni and Sampath have done incredibly well, one might feel that they haven’t been used to their optimum. On the other hand, the director’s astuteness in writing certain sequences, such as the climax is praiseworthy. On the whole, Burma has a different story to tell. But it might suffer minor few drags here and there.
Directed by Dharani Dharan
Produced by Sudharshan Vembutty
Written by Dharani Dharan
Starring Michael Thangadurai, Reshmi Menon
Music by Sudharshan M Kumar
Cinematography Yuva
Edited by Vivek Harshan
Production Square Stone Films
Release dates 12 September 2014
Country India
Language Tamil
