Con City review: Arjun Das anchors a scam drama that never quite cons you

Con City movie review: Director Harish Durairaj's Con City, starring Arjun Das, Anna Ben, Yogi Babu and Vadivukkarasi, is a film about a family that scams. While it's an interesting idea, the film gets pulled down by randomness.

In Short

• Con City explores scam genre with Arjun Das, Anna Ben, Yogi Babu and Vadivukkarasi
• The film's plot revolves around a family of con artists and a missing child mystery
• The film suffers from slow pacing and repetitive scenes

Over the years, films centred on scams have found love among fans in Tamil cinema. From Sathuranga Vettai to Doctor to Lucky Baskhar to Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal, several such films have remained favourites with fans. This week, Arjun Das, Anna Ben, Yogi Babu and Vadivukkarasi are exploring this genre with director Harish Durairaj's Con City. Did they succeed? Let's find out!

Saravanan (Arjun Das) and his wife, Mithra (Anna Ben), run a humble mess in Mangalore. They are the parents of a young, physically challenged Jeeva (Akilan) and live with Mithra's brother, Jackie (Yogi Babu), and Janaki (Vadivukkarasi). We are shown that Saravanan and Mithra are not on talking terms, but they continue to co-parent their kid. One day, Jeeva goes missing from school, and a look at the CCTV video reveals a dark secret that unravels everyone's backstory and how they found each other.

It is no secret that Saravanan, Mithra and Jackie-Janaki are all scam artists (revealed in the trailer itself). But how did they all get together? What are they running from? Who has kidnapped Jeeva, and who will save him? All these questions are answered in over two hours and 32 minutes.

Director and writer Harish Durairaj's Con City aims to be a film that outsmarts its viewers. But it takes its sweet time to draw you in. The initial stretches are drab. For example, a scene plays out on screen, and minutes later, another character recalls it, and we get the same visuals played out again, taking spoon-feeding to a different level!

It is only when we get into how Saravanan, Mithra, Jackie and Janaki became con artists that the film gets remotely interesting. Their character transformations from being the deceived to becoming the deceiver kepts things going for the film.

But soon, Con City makes you bored as the deja vu feeling (a reminder of other films in the genre) never leaves the screen or your mind. It is yet another film that relies on nostalgic songs to evoke applause or mass moments. The scene where Arjun Das's Saravanan uses Rajinikanth's iconic title music hardly ever gives you goosebumps. Similarly, the use of the old classic number Emaatradhe Emaaradhe, which encapsulates the film's theme of deception, overstays its welcome.

Con City never takes itself seriously, and that is one of the sole reasons why we aren't able to take the film seriously as well. A film centred on scams should rely on brilliance, at least to an extent, even if it's a dark comedy that brings in silly jokes. It's the brilliance that sells you the scam. But in Con City, the brilliance lies in simple Google searches on call forwarding and age-old techniques we've seen in films of the same ilk.

Saravanan, who is an EB officer, while planning to execute a scam, finds an idea to stop the printer in his office from working. What could have been a simple one-minute scene gets stretched out, only to make you question: Did we just wait for this? This is one among the many reasons why Con City never explores its full potential.

The less said about the comedy, the better. It is in the final act that Con City finally springs a few surprises. But by the time you reach the climax, you're already exhausted by the randomness on screen.

Coming to the performances, Arjun Das, as Saravanan, appears in a starkly different role as opposed to his usual villain roles. Anna Ben, who has delivered some brilliant performances in Malayalam films, has very little to do in this film. Yogi Babu whips up his usual comedy, which works in parts. Vadivukkarasi, on the other hand, is an absolute hoot.

Con City sells you the idea of a clever scam but delivers the brilliance of a basic Google search.

- Ends