Saturday, 19 December 2015

Thani Oruvan - A winner, hands down

From the jaws of evil, good always prevails. This has been a TM of tamizh cinema for decades. Thani Oruvan has been stamped with this genre but at the end evil has the upper hand here. Mohan Raja comes out of his comfort level to make an original script as against his previous remake hits. Like his previous films, this film also boasts a huge starcast - Jeyam ravi, arvind swami, nayanthara, ganesh venkataram, thambi ramaiah and many others.

The opening scene gives an unusual introduction of the antagonist. The director starts scoring right from the first scene. A baby is born in a car with placards wrapped around it saying "naalaya vidiveliyae". The film moves at a brisk pace as the sequence of scenes is flawless and seamless. A typical Ram - Ravana story delivered new and afresh. Jeyam Ravi and his group of aspiring police officers take on crimes happening in the society from the days of their training. In due course, Jayam Ravi finds his villain, tailor-made for him. From then on, there is tension between the two, one overtakes the another and finally it ends with dharmam marubadi vellum.

Jayam Ravi gives 100% to his role, a perfect rival for his enemy. But, jayam ravi as Mr.Perfect is again a cliche of 'be-good do-good' heroism in tamizh cinema. Nayantara has no strong scene in the first half, but she scores in the typical motivation-to-hero scene in the second half. She has got a performance-oriented role after raja rani and makes no mistakes. Thambi Ramaiah is a bundle of talent, he evokes laughter just with his mind voice. Whenever the film gets high on seriousness, thambi ramaiah brings it back on track with humour that doesn't disturb the movie. He makes an impact even when he is in a frame with arvind swamy.

Enough said about the "other" members of the starcast, there is one man who steals the show - Arvind swamy. He is pure evil. He plays a role  contrasting to his chocolate boy image and still manages it with ease. He conveys everything with just his eyes and his smile. There are places where he uses words like "incorrigible". A sophisticated villain. One might get reminded of kanaa kanden prithviraj, but arvind swamy is the trendsetter now thanks to the gripping screenplay. Yes, arvind swamy wins hands down over jeyam ravi - evil prevails over good, but only in the audience's heart.

The dialogue writer duo SuBa come up with their best after ayan and ko. "Nallatha mattumae seiya, kadavulaala kooda mudiyathu, nammellam enna?", "Nee kodutha vaazhkaiya naan aethukala, nee kaeta vaazhkaiya naan kuduthutaen", "Love at first sight, kill at first betrayal" are "just" samples, there are plenty. Everyone is in praise of arvind swamy and Raja after the release. Hiphop tamizha is a silent winner. His "theemai thaan vellum" for arvind swamy is haunting, though it is repetitive. The lyrics written by Hiphop Tamizha himself deserves a special mention. His songs are chartbusters already. "Kannaala" song rings in your ears though it comes at a place to disturb the pace of the movie.

Mohan Raja makes a debut after 5 films, as an original script writer. He hasn't compromised to take in commercial elements, every scene is much needed for the plot and the story. There are few scenes which thrill you in an unusual, unexpected way - jeyam ravi checking out the silencers of the parked bikes to trace the enemy, the bug tracker scene, the first scene at the chief minister's office, the first encounter of arvind swamy with jeyam ravi with the gun case. After all, there is the proposal scene with no words. Audience unanimously acknowledged with thunderous applause for each of these scenes. Hip hop tamizha's bg score elevated all these scenes to give a mass appeal.

Mohan Raja has bounced back and no stopping from here!
Bottomline - a perfect masala movie, a must watch.

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