An official adaptation of Breakdown, Vidaamuyarchi lays emphasis on the characters of Arjun and Kayal pretty well. For instance, it is implied that Kayal ‘may’ have had an extramarital affair, but the gaze towards her is never looked down upon. In fact, in a sharp contrast, you see Arjun acknowledging her by exclaiming that atleast she is honest with him, something that pretty much defines their ‘breakdown’ of a relationship – which is Honesty. If you choose to dig deeper, you can feel that sense of longing between the couple in the garb of remaining oblivious that ultimately also translates into a justification to take their ‘last trip’ together. And I must admit that I quite liked the world building here that was filled with intrigue even as the couple begin their journey through the dusty desert of Baku, a setting that also defines the dryness in their relationship.

One of the key contrasting facets of the drama also remain the characters of Rakshith (Arjun Sarja) and Deepika (Regina Cassandra). The moment you see Kayal bumping into the couple, you can make out that something remains amiss. Right from their first attempt of luring Kayal into their ‘trap’, you can see the motivations of the frantic couple from a country-mile. And once you know their backstory that is just about referenced upon – the picture is crystal clear. In a sharp contrast to the strained relationship of Arjun and Kayal, Rakshith and Deepika remain a couple madly in love, while doubling up as serial killers in the middle of nowhere. The slow buildup of intrigue and tension forms a major part of the first hour leading to the disappearance of Kayal that ultimately results in Arjun having to not only save his marriage with Kayal, but also track her down in a foreign land. The setup remains interesting even though you know where this is headed.

One of the minor complaints that I had with writing was the convenience of the critical plot points. For instance, following the disappearance of Kayal, a lost and hopeless Arjun suddenly finds a truck being driven by Rakshith out of nowhere, only to follow him. The subsequent plot point does make more sense though, while adding to its mystery but the setup does seem a little too convenient. Secondly, the twisted reveal at the halfway mark that has an underlying notion of how well do you know your spouse, is never really built upon after a point. It did have an aching psychological angle tagged to it, but it was never really explored. And unfortunately enough, the slide in the drama begins in the second hour even as the writing gets lost in translation!

The biggest reason for the downfall of the drama in the final act remains that it searches and eventually digresses from its original identity. It just tries to turn into an action extravaganza while never really penning the underlying emotions of the same. For instance, I could never feel the pain of Arjun in wanting to track his missing wife, that eventually leads him into the combat mode. The action set-pieces per se are well choreographed but they never give you that high because the underlying emotions remain untapped. Even the cut-out of the antagonists that had a threatening reveal, eventually undergo an identity crisis. Everything felt so inorganic and abrupt that before you knew it, you were already at the finishing line. This, while there was a further opportunity to elevate the bar of shock with an ending that could have made millions gasp while creating an arc of incompleteness. But the cop-out remained quite frustrating with an ending that again felt generic, cliched and lacked the final punch. The screenplay had a great setup that was quickly fizzled out in the second hour.