Courier Boy Kalyan has a run time of less than two hours and the plot has all the necessary elements that could make for an edge-of-the-seat thriller. Any film that veers off the formulaic track is a welcome change and worth rooting for. At the same time, it’s a letdown if it turns out to be a wasted opportunity.
Debut director Premsai takes a thread from David Koepp’s Premium Rush — of a bicycle messenger being chased around New York for an envelope in his possession — and gives it a local twist, a different web of crime. Kalyan (Nithiin) is the courier delivery guy here who realises that a packet in his hand could throw the lid off a medical crime that’s beginning to affect many expectant mothers.
The film opens in Bucharest where Ashutosh Rana is turning his back on medical ethics and making regular patients suffer for the benefit of the elite who cough up a fortune. You suspect an organ racket or something more sinister. For a moment, one is reminded of Gautham Menon’s Yennai Arindhaal ( Yentha Vaadu Gaani ). It’s perhaps just a coincidence that he’s the producer of this film.
Romanian authorities smell something fishy and Rana and his accomplices shift their gaze to India. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Kalyan, who has joined a courier service with the hope of delivering couriers to Kavya (Yami Gautam). He is a small fry in this big, bad city where Rana is building a network of doctors who will flout norms for big bucks.
When a story has all these elements of a thriller, the team packs in more songs than necessary to cater to an audience that loves masala cinema. Forced masala in an urban crime thriller stands out like a sore thumb. The film gets its act together when the focus returns to the main plot and gives a fitting race to the finish.
Yet, there’s a feeling of a void, of something lacking. For one, you’re left twiddling your thumb and bored for quite a while in a 104-minute film. There’s also a lacklustre romance track that has no bearing on the main plot. Agreed, Nithiin joins a courier service to meet Yami, but Yami herself has no role to play. She is shown as a sales girl at a khadi bhandar. She could have played any role but that of a salesgirl. At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, Yami looks too glamorous to be passed off as a salesgirl at a non-descript store in Nampally. She tries to look de-glam but it doesn’t work.
Nithiin looks the part of a helpless guy caught in a tangle and shows his mettle as an actor. The background score and cinematography are good too. But the film itself could have been so much better had it stayed true to the plot and genre.
Courier Boy Kalyan
Cast : Nithiin, Yami Gautam and Ashutosh Rana
Direction : Premsai
Music : Karthik, Anup Rubens, Sandeep Chowta
Storyline : A courier delivery boy, against all odds, has to deliver a package that will impact the lives of many.
Bottomline : A story that doesn’t live up to its premise.
