U-Turn movie review: Samantha Akkineni keeps you hooked till the very last scene

U-Turn is not a regular whodunit but a well made paranormal thriller that moves at a rapid pace, with a stunning reveal in the climax. The Tamil remakes the Kannada film with same title and director. It is a loyal remake but director Pawan Kumar makes an important change in the climax which makes the murder mystery case slightly more reliable. Samantha Akkineni has the spotlight. She is doing well for this difficult role.

Samantha Akkineni in a still from U-Turn. Image via Twitter

Rachana (Samantha) has internship at a newspaper. She takes to the crime beat and wants to make a good impression with her senior editor Aditya (Rahul Ravindran). The she decides to investigate on the Velachery flyover in Chennai. She finds out that each day, some motorists move blocks that partition the road just to take a short cut through a U-turn. Of course, those people who take the U-Turn unlawfully do not move them back and the blocks causes many accidents.

Rachana takes note the vehicle numbers of those who violate the traffic rule at the dangerous 'U-turn'. She tracks them one by one and finds out that all of them seem to have committed suicide on the day they broke the traffic rule. Rachana is taken into police custody and the police suspect her at first. But later, an officer Nayak (Aadhi), joins her to investigate since he feels that something is not right. Are the deaths connected to one another and to the flyover? Why do they all die on the day they moved those blocks illegally?  And there is an intriguing link out of the blue which connects all the suicide case and endangers Rachana.

There are many twists and turns that keep you stayed till the very last second. The director says this story is based on real-life incidents. The most impressive thing is Nikketh Bommireddy’s camera, which gives the film an eerie feel.  Pawan has a smart and clear storyline as he harps on karma, the underlining theme of the film. It also sends a serious message on how important it is to obey traffic rules. The film has its weakness as it oscillates between the real and the implausible; making it difficult for the screenplay to bridge the gap, especially in some key portions during the second half. The paranormal activities are tough to swallow.

The film is successful due to Samantha’s performance. Her face expression of fear in the climax makes the one of the best scenes. Rahul Ravindran as the senior crime editor and Aadhi as the cop are doing well also. Pawan has packaged U-Turn well as a neat thriller that thrives on an interesting premise.