Hindi movies used to be a regular source of inspiration for tamil directors. There have been several remakes of popular Hindi movies in the past, with mixed success. But with Hindi movies becoming very popular on their own in Tamil Nadu, remaking the big hits becomes tough. We know what happened to Sudhandhiram, the remake of Ghulam, a huge hit in Hindi. So Tamil directors now seem to be looking further back at mediocre hits for material. So we now get Appu, a remake of Sadak, an average Hindi hit from a while back.

The only talked about aspect of Sadak was Sadashiv Amrapurkar, who played an eununch and the villainous head of a brothel. His performance was universally praised. The same seems to be what Appu is destined for. Prakashraj's performance as the eununch is the only noteworthy aspect of this cliched, slow and at many places, boring remake from Vasanth. Inspite of the oppurtunity for going over-the-top, given the scope of the role, Prakashraj is casual and charismatic without overacting. Both his effeminate mannerisms and his villainy are controlled and so, very effective.

Appu(Prashanth) is a taxi driver in Bombay. He has seen his sister(Easwari Rao), who was sold to a brothel, fall to her death and is searching for the woman who was responsible for it. He is eternally downcast and depressed and works like a maniac(though he is able to sing and dance!). He is thrown into the same situation again when Geetha(Devayani), who was also sold to a brother by her own uncle, asks him to rescue her. Not wanting to lose her as he lost his sister, he becomes determined to save her from Maharani(Prakashraj), the owner of the brothel.

The film has the potential to be a gripping, gritty thriller. The seedy atmosphere of the red light area in Mumbai, a charismatic and chilling villain, a hero with a mission and a woman in distress are all perfect for such a thriller. But Vasanth introduces elements that feel out of place and cause the movie to be stuck midway between being a stark, realistic thriller and a light-hearted entertainer. So we have scenes like Prashanth and co. singing and dancing on the streets and Dhamu's stand-in with another tenant on one hand and Prakashraj's ruthless tactics(like how he deals with Ramesh Khanna) on the other>. The scenes don't really mesh and end up looking like Vasanth was unsure about the tone to adopt for the movie.

The movie appears rather disjoint and leaves a lot of loose ends. Characters have not been constructed with an eye on consistency or realism. For instance, Prashanth is introduced as a moody person who walks around like a zombie mourning his dead sister. But in the very next scene, we see him singing and dancing! And for a girl who father beat her and locked her up, Kaveri seems unusually uncared for with not a single soul coming to look for her! The relationship between Prashanth and Devayani fares better with his determination to save her and her belief in him being believable. But the body count becomes rather high and this reduces our interest in Prashanth and Devayani escaping.

Prashanth goes for a change of image here, sporting the rough-and-tough look with the help of a stubble. Though his voice doesn't support this change, he manages to look the part. Devayani doesn't have much of a chance to smile throughout the movie. But it looks like she has really slimmed down, a rare case among tamil heroines whose girth usually moves in the opposite direction! Vignesh and Kaveri(the girl who was introduced in Kannukkul Nilavu) are adequate. Unnecessary expenditure is obvious in the unimaginatively choregraphed song sequences in South Africa.