Suriya looks like he has drunk from the fountain of youth, and he gives his most entertaining performance this year in one of the most unusual movies of the year. In terms of concept, ‘Scene’ may be one of the most out-of-the-box ideas ever for a big-hero movie. The trailer said that Suriya is a cop and Naslen is a killer. We expect things like nail-biting suspense, big action set pieces, detailed scenes of investigation, a bone-chilling score, and high stakes. But the film subverts every cliché in the storytelling book, and we get ‘scene’ after unexpected ‘scene’, which play out in tone after unexpected tone. The ambition is admirable, but the film takes too long to take off and ends up working only in parts. Oh, and Nazriya plays another subversion: she is a romantic interest who isn’t quite how we are used to seeing romantic interests. That’s the basic storyline and the quick review. A longer analysis follows, and it may contain some minor spoilers. 
If I’d read the screenplay of Scene, I’d have called it an instant masterpiece. Let’s begin with the name of Naslen’s character. It’s Eeshwaran, or God. In a “normal” film about a serial killer / contract killer, such a name would be an indication that the man thinks he is God. He has the godlike power to take lives at will. We would expect a backstory that made him this way. We would expect his killings to reflect his extreme cruelty, and we’d wait for the hero to deliver divine justice in the last scene. But none of this happens. The defining character trait of Eeshwaran is that… he likes sucking on lollipops. His first scene in the film takes place in a graveyard. There’s a cross involved. There are other killers involved. Eeshwaran offers a suggestion and then says they can pool in money and give him a consultation fee.
You can take this scene away from the movie and you’d miss nothing. But it establishes Eeshwaran as a character who is never going to become much of a threat to anyone. Even the murdered people feel like afterthoughts, with characters like a boyfriend who wants his girlfriend dead. Scene is a low-stakes movie. It is not about a cop catching a killer. It is about finding fun ways to keep circling randomly (and amusingly) around the plot about a cop catching a killer. It’s a brilliant screenplay idea, but on screen, at least in the first half, the execution feels flat. Suriya’s cop is named Inbaraj. At first, a colleague complains that he just sits and smokes, watching reels, while others do the real investigative work. Later, we learn why. But the reveal doesn’t carry the kick that it should. As part of the randomness, we get a brilliant forensic scientist who has comical memory issues. We get a brilliant criminal profiler who’s a comical alcoholic. We get a joke about cigarette smoking and impotence. And we get the feeling that maybe the setup is taking way too long.
Yes, the lack of a tight and focused plot is pretty much the point, but there’s too much looseness in the early portions. There’s no forward propulsion, and no rhythm to the scenes. Even with these low stakes, even in this “anything goes” zone, a superstar cameo feels like a waste of time – though his face-reveal is a blast! Much of the first half feels like a waste of time, with Suriya’s charm doing all the heavy-lifting, along with Sushin Shyam’s brilliant songs and score. Sushin really gets the assignment, and he delivers wacky music that (like the rest of the film) is all about subversion. There’s a song Raasadhi Raasan that’s upbeat with brassy sounds but it also has a slightly melancholic core, and plays over Eeeswaran murdering someone as Inbaraj dances in his home far away. This may be the first time a cop is shown chilling while a killer does the killing.
Again, at the concept level, there’s lots to admire – like the fact that almost everyone is flawed. It’s either a physical limitation or a psychological defect. I liked that the victims were both men and women, though one part of me did feel sorry that their killings add up to so little in the overall scheme of things. Unlike normal cop-killer movies, Scene is shot in bright light, with practically no shadows. Vineeth Augustian’s cinematography is a highlight. And you really appreciate Suriya’s “bravery”, if that’s the word. He goes back to the fun times before he became a huge star. Even his one big “mass” dialogue is subverted. We see kids nearby beginning to clap, and the moment becomes meta humour. He gives away a big action scene to a costar, and while this action scene is happening, he roams around making moves that make us laugh. This is a hero who’s brilliant but also on the backfoot.
This action scene is about where Scene begins to take off. It’s in the second half, and the jokes become better and land with more consistency. Gajaraj delivers the year’s biggest belly laugh in a gag about family honour. And the characters – like Nazriya’s Maya – get into focus. The romance is low-key. It’s another thing that’s treated with a casual shrug. But there’s a terrific scene where Inbaraj imagines his ideal woman. I finally began to warm up to the movie. Apart from Suriya, no one is asked to give much of a performance. But Naslen is fun to watch as the low-stakes killer. There are fun throwbacks, like the climax that looks back to thrillers like Wait Until Dark, except that Audrey Hepburn in that film did not have Alexa and the smashing ‘Aeroplane’ song. Scene is kinda fun, but it’s also so lightweight that the film evaporates from the mind even as you step outside the theatre. I wish it had been a bit more, but it’s certainly a flavour we don’t see enough of.
