Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru movie review - Honest and riveting

Director: H. Vinoth

Cast: Karthi, Rakul Preet Singh, Abhimanyu Singh, Bose Venkat, Varghese Mathew, Rohit Pathak, Sathyan, Mano Bala.

Director Vinoth of Sathurangavettai fame has proved that he is no flash in the pan with his second offering Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru, a gritty cop thriller based on true life incidents ‘Mission Bawaria’ led by the then Inspector General of Police S.R. Jangid and his team to nab the dreaded dacoits from the north who were involved in crimes in Tamil Nadu.

Karthi in the titular role of a duty conscious and straightforward cop is exceptional and holds the film together with his realistic feat.

The film begins with Theeran Thirumaran (Karthi) getting a phone call from a young cop who wants to meet him after he read about a particular case (1995 to 2005). Theeran, now in middle age, wants to forget the case but is apparently taken back to a time gone by.

Cut to the flashback, we see young police officer Theeran who returns to his native after completing his training. There he meets Priya (Rakul Preet) and it was love at first sight. Soon they get married and though the romantic portions are enjoyable, Vinoth does drag the proceedings a bit in an otherwise fast paced thriller.

Then the actual story starts. Because of his upright nature, Theeran gets transferred to several places and finally in 2002 he is posted in Thiruvallur. Thus begins the hurdles when he comes across the case of organized highway dacoits who mercilessly murders and loots lone houses on the outskirts.  A local MLA is also killed. Theeran scrupulously begins his investigation of the case, which has hardly been given much importance by cops, but he is determined. When he meets with a personal loss, Theeran will not rest until he pins down the criminals.

Karthi is in full form and shines every inch in a cop story that is not set in a regular formulaic pattern. The actor has done a lot of hard work and immense effort, which is evident on the screen.  He looks every inch the ideal cop. There are no punch dialogues, yet there are funny and realistic dialogues, which take a dig at our system of lazy cops not performing their duties. Rakul look pretty and has done justice to her role.  Cigar clad Abhimanyu Singh as Oma Bawaria - the head of the dacoit gang - is menacing. Even the other baddies Rohith Pathak and Surendar Thakur look raw and real. Bose Venkat plays an effective foil to Karthi.

Vinoth should be lauded for his authentic and sincere research work and sticking to it without many aberrations. Post interval, the movie moves at a rapid pace and travels in a terrain that is unfamiliar to Tamil cinema.

On the technical front, Dhilip Subbarayan’s action choreography is simply superb. Cinematographer Sathyan Sooryan’s muddy and grey tones augment the visuals and Ghibran’s background score provides the necessary gritty feel.  The film is too long and a bit of trimming would have helped.

We have seen many cop films in the past. But Theeran … stands out for its honest and riveting portrayal and is not to be missed!