Andhagaaram, directed by V Vignarajan, in his directional debut and produced by Atlee under his A for Apple Productions, alongside Sudhan Sundaram and Jayaram under their banner Passion Studios and K. Poornachandra's O2 Pictures, stars Arjun Das, Vinoth Kishan, Pooja Ramachandran, Misha Ghoshal and others in pivotal roles and has opted for a direct OTT release on Netflix. The film had piqued the curiosity with its trailer when it had released months before and now it’s time to know whether it has passed the litmus test.

Andhagaaram begins on a fairly intriguing note. Several people end their lives. Who are they and why do they do so? Parallel is the lives of Vinod (Arjun Das) and Selvam (Vinoth Kishan). The former is a cricket coach while the latter is a visually challenged person, working as a clerk in a government library. Add to this, is a troubled psychiatrist. How do the three people’s lives connect forms the rest of the story with a few supernatural elements thrown in.

Coming to the performances, almost everyone is at their natural best with Arjun and Vinoth breaking a leg. The former with the effective portrayal of his frustration with his now-famous baritone doing the trick while the latter convinces us neatly with his act as a visually challenged person. 

Pooja Ramachandran and Misha Ghoshal also deliver what is given to them with the former’s role being better etched out, however, their dubbing isn’t quite on point and at times, even comes across as laboured. 

While the director needs to be applauded for trying something unique, at the same time, he could have tied the loose ends quicker. At almost three hours, the film could have been trimmed for brevity. We also see that people are mostly black and white in his world and are left searching for the shades of grey that we human beings exhibit.

The technical departments have done their jobs well. The dialogues look a tad unnatural at times, could have sounded more conversational. The BGM is effective while just a few songs that exist in the film blending with the proceedings.

While the film, at times, does give you a feeling that it’s a tad bit long, the director, to his kudos, has also maintained the suspense so that you mentally resolve to linger on to know what exactly unfurls.

A section of the audience might also find it difficult to connect everything together in case they skip a beat.

All in all, Andhagaaram is an effort that is well worth appreciating from the debutant director for extracting good performances and delivering a quality thriller.