As a film fanatic, I love to observe and appreciate how films are made from their deliverance of message, tempo, screenplay, camera angles, acting etc. Not that I have anything against Tamil films, but recent Tamil films generally has always been very predictable with many unwanted scenes that has nothing to do with the overall plot and being guilty of focusing solely on the mass appeal of the actors involved. Some of my favorite Tamil films with real quality has been few and far between like 'Vettaiyadu Vilayadu ', 'Unnai Pol Oruvan', 'Neram', Soodhu Kovvum' and a few more the very least. Last weekend I had the opportunity to watch 'Thani Oruvan' and I kept my expectations really low because of the past few films that I've watched left me leaving the cinema really disappointed with 'Maari' being the last film I watched and it was pffftt! Let's not go into that as I was overwhelmed and really satisfied after watching 'Thani Oruvan' and this is why:
*Spoiler Alert*
1) The Protagonist realism influence on the film
How many times we've seen the lead role no matter he's a farmer, fisherman, gangster, police etc having limitless knowledge and superhuman strength to deal with anything that comes his way. It is as if he's totally invincible and often looks like he ain't from this planet. I understand that this is done in such way because of the mass appeal and demand of the fans especially in India and most probably that is never going to change. In 'Thanni Oruvan', the protagonist is a policeman acted by Jayam Ravi and unlike other police films his role in the film is based on realism like a real life policeman faces. There was a scene where the protagonist undergoes desperate measures until the brink of vulnerability trying to figure out how the antagonist knows his every plan and move. It is a powerful scene where a situation like that draws the audience attention to be on the side of the protagonist. The film also showed that the hero has spent days doing research on crimes and trying to figure a connection between them which he made notes off all in a secret room of his. Realism is the key here as there is also no scenes where the lead role takes on 20-30 people all on his own in a bare knuckle brawl. Thankfully.
2) Less distraction on the film plot
'Thanni Oruvan' has a very strong plot and screenplay with the Director Mohan Raja (hard to believe he is the same director for Velayudham), giving enough screen-time for each role to enhance their character development. This is something that often lacks in Tamil films where the supporting characters are not given attention or are just in the film for the mere humor side of it and not participating the film's plot. Hence, 'Thanni Oruvan' does not have any scenes where it diverts from the plot. Besides that, the lesser number of songs in this film kept the audience engaged to this film throughout. It's not wrong having songs in films but it is very important to have it at the right and proper moments. The background music was stunning though.
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| Director Mohan Raja showed his class |
3) Proper background study of profession
The lead role and his friends are policemen in this film. Their training, development, dedication and posting were shown brilliantly in this film. It shows the writers took time and effort to study the life of a police from being a rookie to the actual deal. On the other hand, the underground world was nicely projected showing how dealings work, the plans, organisation, and that it all leads to one big mafia at the top of the tree. It exposes the dangers of falling into this path and all that matters is just about making business.
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| Realistic fight scenes |
4) The Antagonist's mind games approach
Unlike other Tamil films, this film was great due to the villain's part in the film. The introduction of the villain's was superb and the fact that he only appears somewhere near the halfway of the film made it intriguing. The villain played by carried himself brilliantly and he showed that there is no need of alcohol, drugs, or violence to show how bad-ass you can be. Credit goes once again to the director for this. It is a rarity to see a villain in Tamil films trying to outfox the hero by using his smartness. This gave a resemblance of the Joker's role in the Dark Knight film. NO JOKE ! ....and for once....for once... the punch dialogues were given for the antagonist to deliver which was absolutely amazing to watch! Plus there is no typical 10-15 minutes film ending fight scene between the hero and villain like other films has.
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| Best Villain of 2015 hands down: Arvind Swamy |
5) The Acting
Every role was played well in this film. The supporting cast of the protagonist did their part as well as the heroin of the film, Nayanthara. She is proving herself more and more that she can really act. Jayam Ravi gave one of his best performances which I hope will resurrect his career to compete with the elite but we all have to agree that in this film Arvind Swamy stole the show with and absolute peach of an acting performance. Personally, I did not recognize him at first as the only other film of his that I saw was 'Thalapathi'. I never thought he could pull off such a performance in a villain's role. If there is an award for the best villain's role in the Tamil film industry in which I think there is, they can comfortable give it to Arvind Swamy already for the best villain of the year 2015!
p.s : The only downfall of this film is that Nayanthara was not sexy as she usually is in her other films. :P :P :P
If your're a fan of films in general do check this movie out, you'll not regret!
by Ivan Vincent
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