Dora (Eng: God’s Gift) is an Indian Tamil-language horror thriller film directed by Doss Ramasamy and produced by A. Sarkunam. Dora features Nayanthara in the lead role, with actors Thambi Ramaiah, Harish Uthaman and Sulile Kumar in secondary roles. The film’s production began in March 2016 and principal photography commenced in June 2016, with Dinesh Krishnan working as the cinematographer. The film was released on 31 March 2017.
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.
Directed by Doss Ramasamy
Produced by A. Sarkunam & Hitesh Jhabak
Starring Nayanthara, Thambi Ramaiah, Harish Uthaman, Shan, Sulile Kumar
Music by Vivek–Mervin
Cinematography Dinesh Krishnan
Edited by Gopi Krishna
Production A Sarkunam Cinemaz & Nemichand Jhabak
Distributed by Auraa Cinemas
Release date 31 March 2017
Running time 137 minutes
Country India
Language Tamil
Visitor Rating: 2 Stars
Visitor Rating: 3 Stars