Well usually I select to go for movie form lot of options to choose from. But this Diwali, since there were only two releases - kamal's "Thoongavanam" and Ajith's "Vedhalam".
Since I already knew from my brother's sources that Thala's Vedhalam is not so impressive, so with no other option, we decided to go for Thoongavanam.
We booked the ticket with Luxe Theater at Pheonix mall. Velachery on 15th morning 9 am show, as all other shows were full(booked on Diwali). It was Raining on Diwali day too an hence we could not go on that Day. But 15th morning, the rain was even more! First we thought of cancelling, but later jumped into our car and reached Luxe by 9am exactly.! The Road were all water logged and it was amazing experience reaching the theater from home!
Why Thoogavanam -
The first Reason I what I have mentioned in the first para. The other reason is, i basically love movies involving Crimes, Kidnapping, extortion and stuff like that. And since it was Kamal's movie, I had lot of hope that the movie would be like "Unnai pol Oruvan".
Film Genre -
Its basically a Drug Crime Thriller which includes some real life Humor. The movie involves stuff like - Gangster, Drugs, Gun firing, Pub Cultures and Kidnapping.
Plot/Story -
The story can usually be spotted with many Hollywood movies. But is new with Indian Audience. I watch a lots of Hollywood movies and hence this movie was no new to me.
The Story about How Good cop like Diwakar and Mallika plan to nab drug dealers like Vittal Rao & Pedha Babu but how the good cops are interfered with bad cops like Draviyam & mani and how Diwali solves the case by rescuing his Kidnapped son, Vasu from Rao form the rest of the Story.
The Story does not have lots of Twists and turns but has some simple ones.
The Story and the movie is inspired from "2011 French film Sleepless Night(Nuit Blanche)". I am yet to watch the French Version soon.
Casting -
Well there is not much Casting in the movie, only 4 to 5 of them have big roles and all others are just short come and goes.
1) Kamal hassan as CK Diwakar, an Officer with NCB(Often Credited as CKD) - The only best in the movie is Kamal I would say. Well I am not a fan of Kamal or any other actor, but kamal really has the Realistic acting. Awesome Performance by this Legend Again. He shows the pain, love and Anger in a real professional way. I love that in him!
2) Trisha as Mallika, an deputy with NCB - Wow, Trisha looks awesome in coat and pants. She just looks like a Detective in the movie. I loved her Body Language to the fullest. A good mature performance by Trisha after a long time. She really looks like a Narcotics Cop.
3) Prakash Raj as Vittal Rao, Drug Dealer and Bar Owner - He is an another legend for sure. What even role is stuffed to him, he gives the fullest just like Nassar and Sathyaraj. In that Coat Suit, he really looks like an Drug Dealer in the movie. Just missed him saying "Challam" in the movie.!:(
4) Kishore as Dhiraviyam, Senior officer with NCB - Kishore is best suited for doing Cop Roles though he used to to Villainous role before. But in this movie he does a job of Bad cop which is a mixture of both! I loved his performance again after Aarambam.
All Other Characters though had short roles, had given their good, like Sampath doing the role of Gangster & Jagan as rude care taker.
And Ofcourse kamal needed someone for Kissing and for this Telugu Sizzling actress "Madhu Shalini" is utilized!
Other than this, the one which gives the color to the movie is the Pub girls.
Direction, Production and presentation -
Well Production of the movie is said to be as whooping as 30 Crores! but after watching the movie, i think the budget is not more than 5 crores max! The Whole movies is shot Indoors, just inside 4 walls of rooms. Only two shots were shot on highway. It is said that the movie set was erected at Ramoji Film City resembling a "Pub". And The pub girls and guys shown the movie are mostly belonging to Hyderabad and picked up from pubs like Bottle & chimney, Liquids, spoil and Kismat.
The Direction I guess did not involve much stress at all. No Rain Shots, No moving shots and so on. So I think Mr.Rajesh had very simple job here. Not that Impressive because of very little hard work I suppose.
But the Presentation was Good enough to please Audience for a one time watch and that is what is need for movies to survive in Theater and I guess Rajesh and Kamal team has did that precisely.
Soundtrack -
Well basically the movie has only one song "Neeye Unakku Raja", which is sung Kamal as well. The song come as the End Credits with showcases the making and goofs in the movie as well. But the BMG/OST in the movie was very irritating. Full of Pub songs and Music which was very irritating though.
The Song was good but the BMG was not impressive for Ghibran.
What I liked in the movie -
The realistic Acting in the movie resembling Hollywood flick like "Bullet Shells", "expressing the pain for a Scratch", "ID cards for Officers" and Stuff like that. I really like such movies which doesn't have fake graphics with bullets flying, Cars skidding round, fight masters jumping at 30 meters height and so on.
Not much Songs in the movie just in the movies like Papanasam and Unnaipol oruvan. Songs are really boring with most of the movies these days. Movies like Baahubali, Jeans are Exceptional.
Movie with Simple Twists and not much Confusions. So all Audience can understand the movie well.
Mistakes in the movie -
No. I did not find much Mistakes in the movie except a very few which is negligible. Some of them are -
Kamal passed through AC vent from Ladies toilet to Gents Toilet. Well Who said Toilet based AC vents are that big when a person can Crawl easily. At least Bruce Willis crawling inside a AC Vent in Die hard was little Acceptable but we can see how low crawling he was in the Vent.!
Well when Kamal, kishore, Prakash Raj get into Ladies toilet, the Ladies shout like anything and ask them to get out every-time! But Trisha gets into Gents Toilet without any Criticism! Woa!
Well Rao(Prakash Raj) asks CKD(Kamal) to return bad the BROWN bad full of drug to get his son bag. But CKD, some how looses the bag. And hence he goes to Kitchen and prepared some fake bundles of drug Packets filled with Wheat Flour and fills them in a BLACK BAG and gets back to return the bag to Rao! Well during the very first shot of the movie CKD and mani block two of rao's men on road and steal the Drugs from them. One is killed and another escapes. Why not the Escaped one could have told Rao that the bag was a brown bag! And if that would have happened. then how Rao could accept a black back from CKD later on!
Viewers discretion -
I don't think the movie is suitable for all ages. The movie is definitely not suitable for kids below the age of 15. Even the Teens/guys/girls from age of 12 to 22 would get spoiled by watching this movie with full of pub culture. Hence, Viewer discretion Advised.
VERDICT -
Overall, the movie is a usual one for audience who love watching Hollywood Crime movies and Serials like NCIS and Five-O. But for other Tamil Audience, this movie would be a good to go. A Good Different treat for All the die hard Kamal Fans. The movie is Watchable only once.
I am Giving four Stars just for Kamal's performance and Realistic Movie Sequences.
