Cast: Jayam Ravi, Arvind Swamy, Nayantara, Ganesh Venkatraman
Director Jayam Raja is back after a gap of four years with action-thriller ‘Thani Oruvan’. He has joined hands with his brother Ravi again, but this time it is not a remake. The movie rewrites the old adage, ‘Show me your friends and I will reveal your character, but show me your enemies and I will reveal your capacity’. Though the story makes most of the clichéd cat and mouse game between a cop and the villain, it does so with style. More style than you would normally expect in a Mohan Raja movie. Mithran (Ravi) plays the role of a good cop and it is his life’s mission to identify the big fish of the mafia ocean and end them so that all the small fish die on their own without sustenance.
On one such search for a mastermind, he comes across Siddharth Abhimanyu (Arvind Swamy) who plays the role of a Padmashri award winning scientist and the big bad man behind all that is wrong with the society. The real hero of the movie is the story. Months of hard work on the story by the director and his assistants shows in every single brilliantly conceptualized scene of the movie. For the writers, this is the first time their pulp sensibility really shines through. They did not have much success with the stories of Maattrraan, I and Anegan which were let down by the hype that usually surrounds mega productions. The director really allowed the story to shine through and the screenplay supported this at every step of the way. The casting of the movie could not have been more accurate. Arvind Swamy makes a perfect comeback into films with the role of a baddie that he plays oh-so-coolly.
For an audience which is used toseeing villains in white veshtis and big moustaches with a fleet of armed men and shouting incomprehensible swear words to whoever would listen, Siddharth is a refreshing change. Dressed in suave jackets and crisp shirts, you almost want him to make an appearance every now and then. Dialogues flow effortlessly and the mind games played by him and Mithran are a visual treat. Mahima (Nayantara) plays Mithran’s love interest but she is more than just that in the film. She is a forensic officer who holds her ground and makes her presence felt in each scene she is in. Ravi certainly looks the part of the determined cop but where he fails is when he runs short of other shades. Good old vanilla just doesn’t cut it anymore and you are left wondering how much more the film could have been if the leading man painted a little more color in his role. Verdict: Absolute entertainer with very little to complain about.
Verdict: An absolute entertainer with very little to complain about.
Rating: ****
