By Vivek Ramz

Director R.Panneer Selvam entered the spotlight when his debut attempt ‘Renigunta’ garnered critical appreciation for its raw & rustic portrayal of how young orphans become cold-blooded criminals. The film went on to become a commercial success too. After three years, the director is back with his second attempt '18 Vayasu' - a psychological thriller. Did he strike the right chord this time? Read on to find out!

What's it about?
Karthik (Johnny) gets mentally affected because of a childhood incident, where his father commits suicide after finding out about wife’s affair with another person. Even after his father's death, his mother continues with the affair. This disturbs Karthik very much and he develops a very peculiar problem. He behaves like an animal whenever he is depressed. One day, Gayathri (Gayathri) enters his life like a breath of fresh air. She slowly starts liking him and they decide to live together. But things take an U-turn, when he kills his own mother after repeated mental torture and physical abuse. When she finds out about his animal behaviour, Gayathri distances herself from him. Meanwhile, the police is on the lookout for him and to make things worse, he kidnaps Gayathri.

What works?
The film's biggest plus point is the music by duo Charles Bosco & Dinesh Kanagarathinam. All songs are good and a wonderful mix of folk & melody. Their BGM also goes well with the mood of the film. Another strength of this movie is the amazing cinematography by Shakthi. He has captured the lush green locations of the forest beautifully, and especially in the second half. The star cast has done a decent job and Anthony's editing is just about okay.

What doesn't?
Even though Paneer Selvam has a new and interesting premise, he lets it go loose with lot of logical loopholes in the script. He has tried to make the offbeat theme into a mainstream one and failed miserably in doing the same. The film neither goes deep into the psychological aspect nor the thrilling elements. His execution of protagonist's different behaviour is so bad, that it turns out as a joke.

What to do?
Give it a miss! For those who want some thrills this weekend, better go watch last weekend's release 'Naan'

in.com rating - 1.5/5

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