Thuppakki Review – Enormous firepower

By Raven

The coming together of Vijay, A.R. Murugadoss, Santhosh Sivan, Sreekar Prasad and Harris Jayaraj had set the expectations sky-high for Thuppakki. When most of the big budget films have received mixed to negative response this year, here is one film that lives up to its hype and even exceeds expectations. Few minutes into the movie, one might feel that it is a regular commercial flick with ample dose of action and comedy. But, hold on! As the plot unravels, you will be pleasantly shocked.

Plot

Jagdish (Vijay), an army man is on a vacation to his home in Mumbai and his parents decide to find the right bride for him. Nisha (Kajal Aggarwal) is the bride chosen for him but he rejects her first sighting few reasons. But, eventually, he falls for her. Jagdish witnesses a bomb blast one day and decides to nab the culprits behind the act. As he unties the knots, he understands that the entire city is in danger and decides to save the city himself. Will he succeed?

Performances

Vijay is the life of the film. He single-handedly makes the audience hooked to the film throughout. He looks very stylish and the costume designer must be lauded for making him look charismatic as ever. Be the simple dance movements or his dialogue delivery, he just uplifts every single scene.

Kajal Aggarwal has done a good job but her scope is limited to songs and few comedy sequences. On a side note, Wonder why Kajal Agarwal was checking Desigirls dot com - Just curious! Sathyan plays a second fiddle to Vijay and is quite impressive in his role. Vidyut Jamwal looks absolutely smashing and is the right choice for the role. Jayaram appears in a few scenes and he evokes few giggles. The rest of the supporting cast such as the people who played Vijay’s parents and sisters have etched out a fine performance too.

Technicalities   

What perhaps takes this movie to the next level is the technical brilliance of the film. Harris Jayaraj’s background score makes the necessary impact as the story unfolds, even though it may look a tad repetitive. ‘Google Google’ and ‘Antarctica’ are hummable numbers and would go down well with the audience, while ‘Kutti Puli Kootam’ is a mass number that would excite the Vijay fanatics. ‘Vennilave’ song in the second half could have been avoided as it acts as a speed breaker at a critical juncture.

Cinematographer Santhosh Sivan has used Arri Alex camera for the first time in India. His camera work is swift and it largely helps the movie in progressing briskly without any lag. The colour tones look so natural on screen. Crisp editing by Sreekar Prasad has made the movie to look a lot shorter than it actually is. Overall, it is a commendable effort by the technical crew.

Hits 

• Director A.R.Murugadoss has read the audience’s pulse perfectly and has made sure that film satisfies everyone, not just the Vijay fans.

• The pre-interval block where the protagonist brings down 12 sleeper cells simultaneously is one of the best scenes in the film. Hats off to the director for conceiving that scene and bringing it out so well on screen.

• The director has taken cinematic liberties but has not gone overboard. He has made sure that there are no big logical loopholes.

• There are plenty of intelligent sub-plots in the movie throughout and the straightforward narration is a huge advantage to the film.

• A royal salute to the director for paying tribute to Army jawans at the end.

Misses

• Couple of songs could have been avoided, which would have made the film tighter.

• There is a little clichéd scene towards the end, which could have been done in a different manner. (The scene where the antagonist wants to kill the protagonist by fighting rather than just shooting with a bullet).

Bottomline :  Thuppakki has enormous firepower and it packs a punch. It is easily one of the best commercial entertainers to have come out this year. 

Reviewer Rating –