Star

Director: Pravinkanth
Cast: Prashanth, Jyotika, Vijaykumar, Raghuvaran, Pravinkanth, Manivannan, Ramesh Khanna.

Despite the presence of top stars like Prashanth and Jyotika, a high profile director like Pravinkanth & music whiz A.R.Rehman, 'Star' fails to take off. After a few early scenes, the script takes a nosedive from which it never recovers. The shoddy script is made worse by inept treatment. The director's attempt to enter into the acting arena, and play one of the crucial characters in the film adds insult to injury.

Dhanushkodi (Raghuvaran), holding District Collector Ramnathan (Vijaykumar) responsible for the death of his only son at the hands of a forest brigand and plans to retaliate by killing Ramnathan's son Santhosh. But Ramnathan pre-empts any such action, by secretly sending his son abroad. It is twenty years since, and the scene shifts to the present day. Ramnathan makes yearly trips abroad to meet his son. Dhanushkodi's goons keep trailing him each time, but are apparently helpless in learning his destination and the whereabouts of Santhosh. Ramnathan meanwhile hits on an idea - to find a scapegoat, who would pose as his long lost son. Dhanushkodi would definitely kill him, and then Ramnathan could get his real son back to India. Ramnathan zeroes in on Murthy, a jailbird. A reluctant Murthy (Prashanth) agrees, when he discovers that his ladylove Preithy (Jyotika) is Ramnathan's niece and staying in the same house too. Dhanushkodi, as expected, makes many attempts to kill Murthy, and as expected, fails each time. Matters are made worse, when Santhosh the real son, an alcoholic and a drug addict (Pravinkanth) lands in India in search of his parents. After a few more listless scenes, Santhosh is killed and the lovers are re-united.

Rehman, probably knowing the worth of the script, has handed over the old tunes he had composed for a Hindi film. An artiste can rarely rise above a bad script. So, Prashanth's attempts to infuse some life through fight scenes and dance numbers turn futile. Jyotika's expressions are becoming repetitive. One feels sorry for Raghuvaran. All his attempts to look menacing is marred by the shabby longhaired wig he sports, which makes him look more like a scarecrow.