Indru Netru Naalai

R. Ravi Kumar's 2015 Tamil film is a well-constructed time travel comedy made on a small budget. The unemployed Elango and his astrologer friend Pulivetti Arumugam come into possession of a time machine and start using it to make money, until their meddling prevents a gangster's death and wrecks their lives. What the film gets right is refusing cheap escapes from its own science fiction logic: the rules are set out early and the comedy comes from what those rules produce. Vishnu Vishal and Karunakaran set the tone, with humour that is unshowy and built on the characters' helplessness. Cleanly plotted time travel is rare in Tamil cinema, and the film found unexpected attention through word of mouth after release. Who it's for: viewers who enjoy science fiction comedy and tightly written genre films. Who it's not for: anyone expecting big-budget visual effects, or who will see the song sequences and romantic thread of the Tamil mainstream as interruptions.