Arun George '24' by Vikram K Kumar is essentially a family drama centered around the idea of time-travel. However, the film also includes elements of romance, action and thrills in ample measures, even though the bulk of the screen time is spent on emphasizing the significance of familial bonds (Appa-Amma-Thaatha-Maama-Maami and so on).The director, who recently made the Telugu drama 'Manam' still seems slightly hungover from it. He has proved that he loves playing with the concept of time (13B, Manam). But the surprise in the screenplay here comes in the form of sci-fi elements. Tamil cinema (and Suriya himself of course!) has been churning out many sci-fi thrillers in recent times (Enthiran, Dashavathaaram, 7aum Arivu, Maattraann, Anegan, Indru Netru Naalai to name a few). Some of these were characterized by an overdone formulaic story replete with masala, while a few of them stood out for their innovative screenplays and seamless blend of sci-fi with other genres.'24' marks a return to the sci-fi genre for Suriya. Hats off to the man for taking up this expensive and ambitious project after many a recent failure (Maasss, Anjaan, Maattraann, 7aum Arivu) and funding it himself. I will not shy away from saying that the production values look top-notch and the CGI is mostly sans notable flaws. The sets boast of decorative extravagance and are mostly a treat to the eyes, at times resembling the lavishness of Shankar films. The cinematography by Tirru is nothing short of spectacular in the initial portions. It would also warrant special mention that different color-tones are attributed to different characters with respect to their portrayal in the film. For instance, the intelligent, yet tender (and at times, clumsy) Dr. Sethuraman (Suriya) and his wife (played by Nithya Menen in an extended cameo) gleam in lighter shades (of golden yellow) while his evil brother Aathreya is burnished in darker shades (of brown).The story is really not that path-breaking to be honest but still holds narrative interest owing to the director's firm grip on attention levels of the audience, by way of utilizing its star lead's boyish charm during the romantic interludes, as well as a welcome change of seeing him play the character of a psychotic antagonist. Aathreya wants his brother's time-travelling device (which happens to be a watch) by hook or by crook and is even willing to murder his brother and his family for the same. Suriya depicts the antagonist Aathreya in a style of his own and the actor seemingly looks like he had fun doing so. The devilish grin and the plain stares are placed at apt junctures by the actor. Suriya, the romantic charmer that he is, uses his potential to the maximum in the scenes with Samantha, although, however cute they may look initially, start to wear out and eventually end up bland. The romance is underplayed in the first half, with Mani (son of Dr. Sethuraman, again played by Suriya) using his time-travel watch to woo Sathya through various instances of play-pause-repeat. "I'm a watch mechanic madam, enakku ithellaam sarva sadhaaranamaana vishayam" is a line that brings both laughs and shrugs. Some of the wooing methods deployed here are fun to watch though, and this makes the first half a mildly entertaining affair. The amazing opening segment as well as intriguing interval block are admittedly where the writer-director scores brownie points.The film slows down considerably in initial portion of the second half with family sentiments (even though Saranya Ponvannan is consistently marvellous at her job of exuding maternal warmth!) and downright- silly romance segments thrown in simply for the purpose of extending the run-time. Thankfully, it does not take too long for the sci-fi element to bounce back and take its rightful position in the film and the viewer is rewarded with a feel-good (rather feel- great!) climax. However, it needs be bluntly accepted before and after watching the film that a lot of it works purely on coincidences rather than logic or situational coherence.A R Rahman's music+BGM is certainly a plus-factor although personally, I am of the opinion that a sci-fi film would be much better off without so many song-n-dance routines. If you, as a viewer, are able to forego these minor masalaic tropes and are okay with a run-time of 160 mins (editing dept. could have done better!), then you are in for a decently satisfying sci-fi treat!

Anup Viswanathan Thampi The movie has been scraped off bits by bits from several movies like Edge of tomorrow,Groundhog day etc which all says about time continuum. The movie is so far the best one and liked movie of Surya after several years to be exact after Vaaranam Aayiram(2008),he is a top notch actor who got carried away with same pattern of wig change/styles and no story just action and exceptionally over claimed hype. He has got this one right by adding in special effects and story line only 1 thing 1 don't understand, why is surya so obsessed with dual or tri characters? Take movies you will see twins,father-son etc charactersall played by surya. He needs to change it too which is becoming a stereotyping for a such fine actor like himself. The best things in the movie that I liked are: 1.Time travel portrayed in good manner 2.Gadgets animation works good(cradle,box,watch,stopped rain etc) 3.Villain character worked charm 4.Lullaby is a masterpiece 5.No heroic entrance to get all claps and all 6.Best selfie sequence with MS DhoniI am giving only 7 because they could have eliminated goofs and negatives which could have been eliminated to make this a masterpiece movieI found certain negative in the movie and that's why 1.Unnecessary song sequence when they are in love and her seeing him among all the people,this number has been played several times in Indian movies and 1st song.2.Same stereotyped thing:where the girl who he loves is in same village as his mother and even same family 3.Elimination of 26 years of coma,that too seen in many movies3.Cliche Goofs that I found: 1. When Athreya goes down the stairs and he rewinds the watch everything comes back to normal, except for the fact Mani didn't know what happened next moment. If you recall the one who wears the watch will definitely know what happened 2. The wire with electricity that powered the watch in the last sequence was there for around 15-20 minutes while all the things happened and it still had power???? WTH someone should have changed that to something else. Anyway what has been done can't be modified hope to see such quality movies from Surya. I had been fan of his until I saw Ayan after which it took 8 long years to see the Surya who has the potential to pull me back in the chair.

Truth sayer Brilliant from start to end.The visuals and the sleep town are amazingly shot. What a locale and such scenery. Throughout the movie every scene is like a painting. Hats off Tirru - the cinematographer.Vikram Kumar - Time travel is such a difficult theme with so many overlaps, object positioning and logic hurdles. Also Indian audience has different type of viewership. So there is the extra hurdle of explaining sequences and hints for time travel. This is so hard for screenplay. But Vikram has handled this very well and the story is tight.AAATHREEYAAA - Surya is just brilliant as the antagonist. After Siddarth Abhimanyu, I thought its hard to match up another villain character. But Surya nailed it as the cut throat villain.The other 2 characters are also played adeptly by Surya.Unwanted love scenes - Added to sell out to many lady viewers who want love songs and mushy scenes. Thani Oruvan, Kaththi and Thupakki also had to carry this unwanted burden.Inspite of this, hats off to Surya for having conviction to take this movie and execute it with a high budget. I heard that initially no one was ready to make this, but Surya stepped up.Minor flaws here and there exist, but the direction, tight screenplay and brilliant performances have made this movie of international standard.If Indians don't celebrate such movies then they have no right to say Indian movies don't match to Hollywood.

giritarenassokumar Surya is the only actor than can level up Indian Cinema with sci-fi movies like #Gajini #7thSense #Maattrraan #24 silent killer #Surya.... but the love scenes may spoiled the film..... #director Vikram Kumar excellent script..... #DOP_Thiru proved his talent..... Heroiens were very gorgeous and talented..... the time traveling portion was mind blowing totally #24 was a super attempt and a #blockbuster ...................... ........................................ ................................................. ..................................................... ..................................................................