Cause for violence, is almost invariably violence. In a world filled with riots and bloodshed, it is hard to decipher the root cause of every tale. But Perumal Pillai has chosen to unleash the truth of a real life violent incident.
Plot:
It all begins with monopoly and the ego attached. First streak of violence crops up from as simple as fanaticism at a movie. Bose (Kishore) files a case against the affluent old man Ugresan, and the latter's theatre is sealed shut. The old man takes it back on Bose by doing away with the young man's banana farm. And hence the two parties set out fighting. One misunderstanding leads to another, eventually killing Bose, brutally. Meanwhile, Thilagar (Dhhruvva) has all along been too-good-to-be-true sort of soft-natured person, from the land of vengeance. His brother's death, followed by his mother's and sister-in-law's accusation of incapacity, transforms him forever, as he becomes the next feared rowdy in town. But will ego satisfied by vengeance, ever make peace? Perumal Pillai tries to lay down "no" for an answer.
Picture:
If you want romance , there is some of it. If you want emotions, there is a lot of it. And if you want action, there is abundance of it. But all, in the story. It is agreeable that real life is far less cinematic, but for so much raw action in the story, the film fails to translate all of it in its screenplay. The story has typical village hooligans, a gentleman of a generous person, a naive brother who predictably falls in love with a girl of another community. And when vengeance begins, you could almost point your finger at which pin will be the next to fall.
A lot of importance has been given to the screen setting, but hasn't been done justice to, by camera in aerial shots. Colours of Dusshera festival and the ethnicity of rural pockets have, however, been captured in full vibrance. Though there is a lot of run-up accompanied by music that builds tension of the moment, it all tends to fall flat after some time; while, the rise continues and ultimately ends in very little or no action. In effect, pictorial narration falls flat.
On the performance front, Kishore and Mrudhula are the only two known faces in prominence, and for the little while that Mrudhula has graced the screen, she has done it in class. Needless to elaborate Kishore's screen presence, he lets the chill run down your spine, merely with his powerful look. Dhhruvva plays the protagonist, but almost till climax, the weight of his character is not established, and Kishore continues to cloud as the front runner. A lot of detail has been dealt to the character playing Thilagar's sister-in-law, at her baby shower, but relatively much less of her is canned in the prime years of her widowhood and the rise of her son. On the whole, character establishment has gone for a toss.
Music is healthy in the songs, but would hardly find its way to loop in your play list. On the other hand, background score is motivating and set to vigour, but lack of justice on screen, shadows the good notes. With regard to dialogues, there are almost always thrice as many similes as the actual content, and all written poetically. For day-to-day parlance, it comes across as being unreal.
Plusses:
Of the many ups the movie boasts of, here are some.
1. Production design, in every bit
2. Ethnicity of words and slang, with the steady backing of seamless dubbing
3. Story in itself, is a statement
What could have been better:
But, there are points in the film that cancel out the good ones.
1. Predictability of screenplay
2. The latter half seems to run boringly endlessly in rhetoric
3. Agreed that real life is a lot less cinematic, but lack of melodrama in realism is not healthy for a movie
On the whole, 'Thilagar' is a movie with a lot of ambitions - some are met, and most have been compromised on. In the end, it lacks to deliver the power it built up, but has a good thread of action running through, nonetheless.
Rating: 1.25/5 - Fails to impress
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