An attempt to strike a different chord and offer the audience a fare, far from the conventional pattern, need not always produce the desired results.
And many a time what is “fun and humour” for the makers, may turn out to be quite the contrary for a viewer.
Va Quarter Cutting, Pushkar-Gayatri’s second directorial venture after Oram Po, turns out to be one such intention gone awry. The makers probably wanted to make a Hangover kind of comedy with a pre-binge, boys-night-out adventure.
It’s the story of Sura from Coimbatore, who having got a job in Saudi Arabia, is in Chennai, all set to board on his flight the next day. Told by his travel agent that the Saudi law doesn’t permit indulgence in liquor and women, Sura decides to have one last shot at alcohol, a ‘quarter cutting’, before he takes off. With him is his friend Marthandan (Charan). But, it being election time, all liquor outlets in the city are closed for the day.
The duo’s experiences and misadventures as they roam all night around the city for that elusive peg, forms the crux of the plot.
The one-night adventure includes encounters with various weird characters.
A ruffian politician (Kalyan) who offers free liquor on the eve of election; some hookers (with whom the duo do an item number) — Singari (Abhinayasri), the aggressive cop on her midnight raid in illegally opened bars, the gay ‘Prince’ who runs a gambling den and his dad ‘King’ (John Vijay, watchable in his dual role), who had an old score to settle with Marthandan, Saro (Lekha), a dullard in studies, who is continuously berated by her mother, and ‘Baby face’ (Craig) and his gang of rich spoilt brats with whom the duo have an altercation. One cannot find a single fault with these actors.
They have done whatever was expected of them.
The females have less to do. Abhinayasri does a better job when compared to Lekha. Lekha’s face is not as expressive as it is expected to be. The film has shades of the Abhay Deol-starrer Ek Chaalis Ki Last Local in quite a few scenes.
The characters may seem colourful and interesting on paper. But on screen their antics or even them for that matter, just fail to generate any humour or fun. There is no punch, thrill or excitement in the screenplay. The cast share a great bonhomie, and seem to have had a lot of fun during the shoot. But unfortunately, they couldn’t pass on even an iota of that fun and enjoyment to the viewer.