DANNY – A COLD TRY ON MURDER MYSTERY

STAR CAST:
Varalaxmi Sarathkumar as a Inspector Kunthavai
Vela Ramamoorthy as Chidambaram
Shayaji Shindey
Shanaya Dapne
Anitha Sampath as Madhi
Kawin as Neelakandan
Vinoth Kishan as Kavi
Durai Sudhakar
KPY Ramar as Scientist
Danny was released on the online streaming service due to the lockdown in country, directed by LC Santhanamoorthy with Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Vinoth Kishan, Kawin, Anitha Sampath, Durai Sudhakar and the Labrador ‘Danny’, as the leading cast of the film. Crafted to be a crime thriller but does it serve the purpose? To find out, read ahead.
Danny is the patrol dog that helps the police to uncover crimes smoothly. He comes to the audience as a loyal, active, and joyful dog. Within a couple of minutes diving in the movie, it starts exploring the crime against women in rural parts of Thanjavur, all the crimes being plotted in identical techniques.
The audience expects the movie to highlight the duty of a dog more as given by the title, but it falls short there. Had it been more of the scenes with the dog, the title would have been justified. He comes for a couple of scenes and in those he reiterates the fact that ‘Dog is man’s best friend’.
‘Danny’ covers mostly Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, her course of actions and she looks promising, tough and bold, and not just an actor in police uniform. Her dialogue delivery and facial expressions fall firm on the ground and have justified her role.
There are plenty of shortcomings in the movie. The direction has deviated from the theme of the movie often and the comedy scenes disappoint the most. They look forced and poorly written. The cast tries to make the comedy scenes look gracious with good comic timing but the jokes might have looked good on paper, not on the silver screen. A murder mystery demands tons of plot twists which was lacking and could be noticed by the audience effortlessly.
A couple of scenes are able to connect with the audience, but it is not a perfect stitched story, has plenty of loopholes and ends up emotionally detaching from the audience. Had been the screenplay more engaging, Danny would have turned out one of the must-watch movies.
Apart from Sarathkumar, Anitha Sampath has done a beautiful job in the movie. She looked convincing and acted neatly. The rest of the cast wasn’t as appealing you might look for. Background music wasn’t able to catch up with the storyline and wasn’t enthralling.
With all the attributes of ‘Danny’ being classified as average, ‘Danny’ boils to be an average watch.
CRITICS RATING: 2/5
IMDb RATING: 4.2/10
Where to watch?
Movie is currently streaming on ZEE5.