Jithan Tamil Movie

Feature Film | 2005
Critics:
May 5, 2005 By S. Srinivasan


Inspired by the success of recent remakes, RB Chowdhary must have felt that it is a safe bet to launch his second son, Ramesh (brother of 'Raam' Jeeva) in "Jithan". The movie is a remake of the Hindi movie – ‘Gayab’ starring Tushaar Kapoor. In recent days, actors have found immense success by portraying characters with traits of eccentricity. The formula worked for Dhanush in ‘Kadhal Konden’, Simbu in ‘Manmadhan’ and Jeeva in ‘Raam’. Not surprisingly, Ramesh has chosen "the road more traveled".


Surya (Ramesh) is a soft-spoken innocent guy who loves his neighbor Priya (Pooja). He is abused by his mother (Nalini) and bullied by most of his classmates. Priya is in love with another guy, Ajay. The first part of the movie goes about how Surya is being bullied by everyone and how he finds it tough to express his love for Priya. On one really bad day, Surya's prayers are answered and he turns invisible. It’s payback time then. He goes about taking his revenge on people who had troubled him including his abusive mother and tries to get Priya’s lover out of the way. Things go overboard when Surya becomes obsessive about Priya and loots a bank to impress her with the money. Here enters Sarath Kumar, a police officer investigating the bank robbery and the series of bizarre incidents caused by the 'invisible man'. The movie gathers pace after Sarath Kumar enters the screen and the ending though not exactly original, is well made.


Debutant Ramesh has put in an honest effort, but he needs to improve a lot, especially with his diction. There are scenes where you can see take offs on Dhanush's ‘Kadhal Konden’. Pooja looks good and has given a decent performance. S V Shekar, as Pooja’s father, does justice to his role. I wonder why he doesn’t act in more movies. Kalabhavan Mani and Livingston have minor roles that do not do justice to their talents. Nalini as the abusive mother has given a fair performance. The best performance though is from Sarath Kumar, who has played the role of the Police Officer with poise. His fit physique and stern facial expressions make him an ideal candidate for the role.


Director Venkat Selvah should be commended for making a good effort to come up with a good remake of the Hindi movie. Jithan is worth a watch.


S. Srinivasan

   

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