Manigandan KR
Chennai, 18 Nov 2017 11:00 IST
Updated: 29 Dec 2017 23:59 IST
This explosive, investigative action thriller, based on a true incident, tells the story of a Tamil Nadu police team that launched a nationwide hunt to track some deadly bandits.
Director H Vinoth, who took the Tamil film industry by storm with his debut film Sathuranka Vettai (2014), has gone a step further with Theeran Adhigaram Ondru, a brilliant, authentic, investigative thriller based on true incidents.
In fact, Vinoth has lifted the already high standards of filmmaking in Tamil cinema with this classy crime-and-action thriller. So exceptional is the film that there is a good chance of it getting remade in several other Indian languages.
The film begins with the police department choosing to digitize its crime records. In the process, several files pertaining to old and solved cases are being sifted through. Those cases that the police consider irrelevant are trashed while those considered significant are sent to an officer to be digitized.
One such solved case catches the attention of an officer who is digitizing the file. That case file is the story of Theeran Adhigaram Ondru.
The film tells how a brave, dutiful, intelligent deputy superintendent of police, Theeran Thirumaran, working on a robbery case sees a trend in a series of such robberies in the state. He tracks leads to find out that these crimes are being committed by an audacious gang that has been functioning for a decade. Theeran's urge to ensure the safety of the public enables him to crack one of the most difficult cases in Indian crime history and bring to justice a gang of notorious bandits responsible for gruesome killings all across the country.
Theeran Adhigaram Ondru shows in detail the difficulties the team encountered while tracking down the dacoits from the North. It also shows the manner of investigation, which stretched for years, and talks of the steely resolve of the Tamil Nadu police, in general, and the team that brought the dreaded gang to book, in particular.
The fact that the film is based on true incidents automatically raises the respect one has for the police. In fact, it almost compels you to take pride in the state police’s achievement, especially since they accomplished what police forces of many other states could not.
The film is flawless. Vinoth has audiences on the edge of their seats for the entire runtime of two hours and 37 minutes. The amount of information the director has on the subject is evident from the manner in which each scene has been shot.
For instance, there is a scene in which a senior officer is shown training police cadets at the academy. A dagger is placed before a cadet and he is asked how he would pick it up if he were investigating a crime. The young man promptly takes out a handkerchief and carefully covers the handle before picking up the dagger. The officer remarks in a mocking tone, “You watch a lot of films, don’t you?”
When Theeran (Karthi) is asked how he would pick it up, he holds the weapon with his bare hands but with minimal contact and from a point which he believes would be directly opposite the point at which the criminal would have held it. He then explains why the police don’t use handkerchieves while confiscating weapons.
In fact, every department scores 10 on 10. Be it casting, acting, music, cinematography, editing, direction, art work, or stunts, Vinoth has got them all right. Each and every individual who has worked on this film deserves to be congratulated.
Karthi does a fantastic job playing Theeran Thirumaran. He is explosive in the action sequences and cute when it comes to the romance part. As a police officer committed to bringing the offenders to justice, he is relentless and, in the process, awesome. This is easily Karthi’s finest performance till date.
Rakul Preet Singh as Priya is beauty personified. Cute, vivacious, naughty, innocent and full of love and life, she nails the character. She combines so well with Karthi that audiences have no problems believing they are looking at a happily married couple.
Bose Venkat as Sathya comes up with another impressive performance. Each and every member of the cast deserves a round of applause.
Ghibran’s music is scintillating at times, romantic at others. Every song in the film works like magic and the background score is simply pulsating for the most part. Sathyan Sooriyan’s cinematography is exceptional as is Shivanandeeswaran’s editing.
On the whole, this is a film that will make it to the list of Tamil cinema’s finest. You should not miss it.