Director Ganesan Kamaraj attempts to make a mark in the industry with a thriller that unfolds over a single night.

Yaarukku Theriyum is essentially the story of five people who wake up from an unconscious state in a factory that is completely locked out and with no way for an exit. To add to their woes none of the five remember anything about themselves or how they landed up at the factory. The rest of the story is about what happens to them when they attempt to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

The less said about the first half, the better. For most part the characters take turns to come up a daft conclusion each to accuse one of the five of being the ‘villain’. It’s only after a lot of kicking and screaming with each other, that lasts most of the first half, do they realize that it’s a good idea to use the telephone that’s freely available! Such collective unintelligence is prevalent for the most part of the film and is quite irksome.

The second half offers some relief as the back story begins to unfurl.  With several twists the director tries to deftly connect the dots on the circumstances that lead to the five people being trapped in the factory and their short-term memory loss. But the character motives are not strongly convincing for the audience to buy the story. In the end there are plenty of unanswered questions and unjustifiable reasons. How does feeding drugs to daycare school children improve one’s drug trade or bring any sort of business? Where’s the money in that??

The film deserves some merit in its cinematography as Makesh Dev shows versatility with different styles of camera movement and lighting effects. Kannan, as the music director contributes more in the BGM as there are only two songs in the film – one being an item song, the other that falls short in its attempt to raise our pulses. The dialogues try to be spontaneous and natural but feel amateur at best.

This kind of thrillers heavily rest on convincing performances by the actors and the cast of Yarukku Theriyum do their best but other than Kalabavan Mani and Jayaprakash the others lack in screen presence which is so very important in this genre. The dialogues and characterizations too don’t do them any good. There are some impressive performances in the second half as one of them is put through a series of tests that are insensitive and deplorable at the same time.

Finally, with inconsistent character behavior and inexplicable motives the film draws to an abrupt close. Director Ganesan Kamaraj seems to have focused his intentions on getting the audience to play the guessing game but disappointment looms as the surprises turn out to be far from clever.

Verdict: Yaarukku Theriyum is a film that will leave you asking the question ‘why?’ rather than ‘whodunit?’