Irumbu Thirai

The release of Irumbu Thirai getting delayed due to the strike that went on for a while in Tamil Nadu is really a blessing in disguise in my opinion. It was very recently that the whole world was exposed to the data breach from the end of world’s biggest social media platform Facebook. Irumbu Thirai is a film that specifically deals with the biggest issue one will have to face in the future of not having the desired privacy and security over personal life. Shaped as a commercial entertainer, this Vishal starrer directed by PS Mithran is a good mix of everything.

Army officer Kathiravan is our central protagonist. He is a man who is struggling with anger management and one reason behind that is his equation with the family. The soldier decides to fix the issues by helping the family and that whole process leads to a scenario where our hero gets bankrupt through a cyber attack. How his determination to hunt down the kingpin behind the whole network goes is what Irumbu Thirai showing us.

Last year Tamil industry witnessed the enormous success of the movie Vikram Vedha which sort of proved that the Tamil audience is an evolved one and they don’t need over masala pampering. On that scale Irumbu Thirai has under estimated the audience slightly. But I was really happy not to see an intro song for hero and an out of context love song between the hero and heroine. The masala is there, but it doesn’t look that much disjoint from the original content. The purpose at the end is to expose the reality of the current day that all our data has been transported to many sources and we are being monitored. Some of the sophistication in the movie might be exaggerated, but the movie does dive deep into the subject.

PS Mithran sort of follows the trend of most of the big scale Tamil entertainers. People like Shankar and his disciple Atlee has approached commercial movies by choosing a socially relevant thing at the center. Mithran has chosen the large scale implications of the data security ranging from Aadhar, bank details etc. to relatively minimal things like social media likes. Even though the cat and mouse game between the hero and villain isn’t that gripping, the informative debates do make us root for the film. The female character isn’t a mere prop here. She could have been used more effectively but luckily they were not so keen to force a romantic angle. George C Williams’ frames were really good giving the movie that intensity visually. The edits were crisp. Yuvan Shankar Raja creates a solid impact, especially through the background score.

The performance of Vishal was fine as the character has almost all the shades one would expect from a typical Tamil hero. I just hope Vishal will continue to select subjects that are more like this and less like an Aambalai. Arjun has very limited scenes when compared to our hero. But with his grace and style he makes the antagonist look invincible. Samantha looks gorgeous and I love her portrayals with subtlety and simplicity rather than the so called “bubbly” characters. Delhi Ganesh, Robo Shankar etc. are the other major actors in the star cast.

Irumbu Thirai has a contemporary relevance which makes it a must watch as it uses a mass medium like cinema to convey the huge impact of a less talked about reality. It is ultimately a commercial cinema and you can’t expect a completely fool proof presentation. With less clichés and more emphasis on the issue, this Vishal starrer becomes a relevant entertainer.

Rating: 3/5