Thuppakki

My review: Thuppakki

Before I review Vijay’s latest Diwali movie “Thupakki” let me give you the background of what has been happening before its release. After a string of not so successful ventures the distributers and theatre owners started to grumble about buying Vijay’s movies. Some even demanded the actor to compensate for their losses (which is atrocious to say the least). There was a time in which to release his movies hassle-free was a big achievement in itself. But since “Kavalan” happened last year amidst lot of hegemony and acrimony each of his movies have become a bigger hit than the preceding ones viz., “Velayudham” & “Nanban”. The time has changed and distributers and theatre owners started reprising their faith in his movies. Will “Thupakki” strengthen their faith further..?

Second point I have to make is that this year is bad for all top heroes and their “BIG” movies. Except for “Nanban”, all other movies fell on the wayside leaving the distributers and theatre owners with huge losses. These are times in which they are all apprehensive about buying a big star movie for huge sums for fear of another loss. Lots of hard backdoor negotiations went through before the movie got released in these many theatres. Will the movie save them of their blushes and bruises...??

During that lean phase that Vijay went through every tom, dick and harry became self-confessed intellectuals trying to micro analyse his movies and him personally. Whatever he did was mocked by these pseudo-guardians of Tamil cinema. (Most of them were hard core hypocrites because when it came to the movie in which their favourite heroes acted they conveniently overlooked the same things) Will “Thupakki” would be that movie which slaps them right in their faces..???

A.R.Murugadoss was hailed as one of the most promising directors in India after both his Tamil and Hindi versions of “Ghanjini” became huge hit in the respective languages. But last year after his below-average showing in “7 am Arivu” people started to question his capabilities. Will he redeem himself this time with “Thupakki“exactly a year later..????

“”Thupakki” has answered these entire questions in the affirmative and how..??!!! Read on.

Written and directed by A.R.Murugadoss, “Thupakki” tells us the story of an army man who takes up the mission of eradicating the sleeper cells in Mumbai. He does it almost single-handedly with style and panache, brawn and brain, Tamil movie style. A.R.Murugadoss is back to his old form dishing out an engaging story with almost racy screenplay aided by a best technical team and above all Vijay, that one man entertainment troop. 

Movie is not without its share of flaws and logical loopholes, as does many great makers’ movies are. But what make them click is that they are masters in camouflaging these flaws by a racy narration which leaves the viewers not that much time to think while you are watching the movie. Here A.R.Murugadoss succeeds in doing the same.  He flounders in the romantic portion which is marginally better than his previous very dreary “7 am Arivu”. But there few enjoyable portions in between also.

There are at least two or three “wow!” moments in the movie which sure would bring goose bumps in most of the viewers. Pre-interval portion is one of the best adrenaline rush scenes in recent times. Another one which warrants mentions is when Vijay emerges out of smoke after shooting one of the terrorists to save the kidnapped girls. These scenes along with the racy screenplay would ensure success. Also the heroism in this movie is not engineered but appears along the flow of the script. 

Dialogues are another strong point in the movie. There are many hard-hitting dialogues that extol the Indian army and the sacrifices of the army men. Also there are couple of enjoyable humorous dialogues coupled with Vijay’s excellent comic timing that rocks the theatre.

Technically it is one of the best Vijay movies.  Santhosh Sivan needs no praise for this movie is like child’s play for the great man. His candid shots especially are noteworthy. Srikar Prasad’s editing is another astounding aspect of the movie. It is not all racy, where there is need for the pace to slow down he does it with proficiency.

Vijay is excellent in a very casual portrayal of an army man accidentally caught in a mission. His body language, Hindi and English diction, comic timing, agility in action sequences and subtle acting makes it one of the best work from him in the recent times next to “Nanban”. Kajal Agarwal is gorgeous and dances well, though in terms of acting she has nothing much to do. Vidyut Jamwal is excellent, he is more of a Hero material than Villain though he has done a very good job here. Jayaram and Sathyan lend good support.

Harris Jayaraj’s background score is one of his best in recent times. It makes sure that right amount of adrenaline rush happens in the most crucial of moments in the movie. “Google google” and “Kutti puli kootam” are awesome dance numbers while “Vennilave” is a delectable melody. “Antartica” is picturized interestingly while “Alaika laika” has good dance movements. “Poivarva” is a heart-rending number rightly placed.

Agreed there are few moments in the movie that slackens the flow but the larger picture satisfies the audience to a great deal. May be the songs may irritate a few, but when you have a proficient dancer like Vijay, gorgeous damsel like Kajal and above all awesome songs from Harris Jayaraj why wouldn’t anyone have songs in their movies.

On the whole, 2012 would be remembered as the year in which all the big stars of Tamil cinema fell by the wayside except for this one man, Vijay who has hit bull’s-eye not once but twice.

Bottomline: Paapaakala konjam thalli poi vilayadunga...!!!  

3.5/5