Etharkkum Thunindhavan Tamil Movie
Director Pandiraj is a domestic brand in Kollywood. His movie's milieu is often rooted in the Tamil rural landscape with stories that deeply embrace family values, reeking with cultural effervescence.
The native flavour always carries its charm. Over the years, with doses of melodrama spoon-fed to the audiences through movies and theatre, the hunger does not seem to be satiated.
Director Pandiraj movies often have a festive mood with a bevy of supporting artists, who either make or break things for the protagonist. In this case, it is Suriya who plays the protagonist, an unflinching lawyer (Kannabiran) who holds a high moral compass as he often does in his movies.
Coming straight from the rollicking form he carried in 'Jai Bhim', where he had to deal with the larger system, herein he has a specific villain, Inba (played by the suave Vinay) dealing with a specific issue. Here too there is a social angle, where the issue is based out of the infamous 'Pollachi Rape Cases'.
The first half is light-hearted and predictable. Parallely, the crime saga is also unleashed upon us, giving us some shocking moments of violence, especially the ones against women and young girls. The interval is where the actual conflict starts, culminating in a bloody and a loud melodramatic climax.
The movie makes its strides on expected lines. The masala has been sprinkled equally with romance, action, sentiment and melodrama. Everything leans on Suriya's larger than life charisma. Suriya, being a seasoned star with his equal share of hits and misses, has done justice to his role.
With a slightly bulged out physique, Suriya's robotic dance moves continue to raise our eyebrows. Priyanka Arul Mohan is the new Tamil speaking heroine who is able to emote well. Thankfully she had a decent role (for a heroine in recent times) that does justice to the film's theme.
Soori, Pugazh and the rest of the gang try their best to tickle us. They do succeed at times, thanks to a fizzy screenplay. One thing that saved the movie was its innate pace. The weakest link was its predictability and some embarrassing romantic escapades between Suriya and Priyanka.
Imman's BGM and songs were loud. The technicalities were just about fine. Stunt was on expected lines as Suriya makes the goons fly high with his kicks and punches.
Though Vinay has become the new favourite evil guy of Kollywood, his portions appear like it was cut from a different milieu. It has an urban air to it. I can understand the conflict between Vinay and the rural milieu, but it clearly confuses the audiences on where the story unwinds. The shift was so dramatic on screen.
This is yet another masala from director Pandiraj and the 'star' Suriya, who want to deliver a wholesome family experience. Though the experience is mediocre, thanks to a beaten down screenplay, the theme and the message manage to resonate well with the family audiences.
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