8 Thottakkal - Radically different

Bharath Vijayakumar

Director Sri Ganesh makes an assured debut with 8 Thottakkal. These days you do not often see traits of their mentors in the works of most filmmakers. Sri Ganesh is an exception and surprises you in a good way. You can clearly see the influence of Mysskin in his work. The director also lists down all his references/inspirations in the filmography slide at the end. 8 Thottakkal isn't your average thriller. It is more of a fascinating character study.

Plot:

A honest sub inspector loses his pistol which ends up in a crime scene.

For most of the initial half , 8 Thottakkal is more of a thriller and it operates on an investigative mode. These portions are lively and have a certain novelty in narration. It is the slightly limited acting prowess of the leads that is the only handicap in these portions. Slowly and without you actually realizing it, the film which was till now operating from the POV of sub inspector Sathya (Vettri) makes an interesting and bold move and the narrative is now through the eyes of Moorthy ( M.S. Bhaskar). M.S. Bhaskar comes up with a performance that leaves you in awe. You know his potential and have seen him score earlier. But he was just a part in those films. Here he runs the show and it is one hell of a show. It is a character and a performance that asks you a lot of difficult questions on morality. When you are consistently put down for being a honest person in an unjust society and when the suffering becomes unbearable how do you cope up? What if you wake up one day and decide to show that you can be evil as well? 

If there is one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb it is the picturisation of the songs and their placement. Even the term commercial compulsion does not make sense if it is going to be unintentionally comical as it is here.

Bottomline:

Quite a deep film that has so much going for it. If Sri Ganesh concentrates solely on his strengths, he could well be one of the torchbearers of Tamil cinema in the near future.

Rating: 3.25/5