For the first time, I
got an opportunity to watch a film on the very first day of its release. After
the excitement of Thalaivar’s Sivaji, its now Thala’s turn. Frankly, I thought
nothing can beat the excitement of watching a Rajni movie with the Junta.
Thala’s fans go one better ! They are as adept at bringing the house down !
Coming to the actual
film, it is about the deep bonding between a cop Father (played by Raj Kiran )
and son (Ajit) The Father nurses ambitions that his son would one day join the
Police Force and hopes to salute him at least once before he (Raj Kiran)
retires. The way in which the dutiful son wishes to fullfil’s his Father’s
cherished desire, the obstacles faced en route & whether he fulfils his
Father’s wishes in the end is what the movie is all about. Im holding back as I
do not wish to give the plot away.
Its an encore for the
Ajit-Trisha pairing – after their earlier disastrous flick “Ji”. For starters
they do share an excellent on-screen chemistry. Ajit has shed all the excess
pounds and looks really handsome. Trisha is HOTT ! She wears tight
salwar-kameez’ and sarees with neat designs on the blouses ! Her sarees and
Hairstyle reminded me of the Ding-Dong song in
JI. Its amazing to see her emote so easily especially her impish
mannerisms + her comic timing in this movie is quite a revelation. She is at
the peak of her career and one certainly hopes she does not give it all up to
get married anytime soon ! Ajit is quite restrained and underplays the role –
you don’t see much of the over-the-top emoting he indulged in recent movies
which makes it even more endearing. Of particular interest is the way he has
acted out the climax scene.
Raj Kiran has always
excelled in roles which requires portraying emotions of a Father rather well in
earlier films and casting him in this film is a masterstroke. There are some
really warm exchanges between Father & Son and that, undoubtedly, is the highlight of the movie.
The comedy track is
welcome as it provides some relief from what is essentially a serious story
(and violent too ) Vivek’s talents are underutilized and giving him company are
Santhanam & Sathyan ( Surya’s sidekick in Maayavi) & Haneefa who impresses with his facial expressions as the pseudo rowdy banking on Ajit's reputation in the town.
The music is by
G.V.Prakash. The two songs that I liked were the melodies – Kanavellam sung by
Jayachandran / Karthik and Akkam Pakkam – sung by Sadhna Sargam. Fantastic
number and what a voice Sadhna Sargam has. No trace of an accent and sweetness
personified. The picturization of this song is fantastic. Excellent and
extensive use of filters and the romantic mood is brought out very well by the
Director (Debutant Vijay – earlier an ad-man) Something unique is the intelligent use of the Camera to convey the rhythm of the song. The pace of the camera moves / cuts in sync with the beats. On the subject of cinematography, the entire first half has warm hues almost like watching a movie in Sepia ! Even the clothes are either orange or Red ! Wonder why ?!
Saranya plays Ajit’s Mom
and is her usual sensitive self. Mano Bala & M.S.Bhaskar (The boozing Minister’s
secretary in Sivaji ! ) play cop roles. I have no clue who the Villain is and
he did not make any kind of impression.
Did I like the movie ? I
did – in parts. The chemistry between Trisha & Ajit, the emotional bonding
of a Father & Son, two good songs and a comedy track. Offsetting this was
the gory violence – needless IMHO - and the fact that the pace of the movie
slackened quite a bit in the second half. The pace of the movie would have
suited a Malayalam Audience but not a Tamil or a Telugu audience. They should
have stepped it up a couple of notches. Ajit fans would get what they look for
in their Thalai – Fights juxtaposed with emotional scenes. In the end that is
what matters I guess !
Personally, I really
think Ajit should get out of this image trap he has got into - To modify
Shakespeare, “Uneasy lies the Thalai that wears a kreedom” ! He made a real
effort in Godfather. Lets hope he gives us something special next time.
