THEGIDI

Thegidi – An “OPEN” thriller!

Cast: - Ashok Selvan as Vetri, Janani Iyer as Madhusri, Kali as Nambi, JayaPrakash as Inspector Raghuram

& Crew:- Producer-C.V.Kumar,Director-P.ramesh, Music- Nivas Prasanna, D.O.P.- Dinesh Krishnan, Edit- Leo John Paul, Studio-Thirukumaran Entertainment & Vel Media,

Language- Tamil, Genre – Thriller, Duration – 2-01-51

Track list:- 1) “Vinmeen” – Lyrics-Kabilan, Sung by-Abhay Jodhpurkar, Saindhavi Prakash2) “Neeyum Dhinam” – Lyrics- Kurunchi Prabha, Sung By- Andrea Jeremiah, 3)” Needhaane” – Lyrics- Kabilan, Sung by-Shankar Mahadevan 4)  “Yaar Ezhudhiyadho” – Lyrics Kabilan – Sung by- Sathya Prakash Dharmar5) “Kangalai Oru”- Lyrics- Kabilan, Sung by- Ajesh Ashok 6) “ Yaar Ezhidhiyadho” & “ Vinmeen”  (Karaoke)- Sung by K.Prasanna 7) Total duration of songs: - NA.

The story, backdrop and setting (Screen play), the whole premise is based on an insurance scam and how the protagonist Ashok Selvan (a fresh graduate in criminology) valiantly attempts to expose the nexus between a major insurance company and a fraudulent detective agency.

The first half is a sketchy detailing of the hero joining a detective agency in Chennai and gathering personal/financial details of clients assigned to him by his boss Purushothaman and his chief investigator Shailesh. In the course of his work he meets his love interest Madhusri and falls for her. What follows is a series of intriguing accidental murders of all the clients he had gathered details on in the recent past, which in turn sets the hero thinking about a possibility of a major crime ring operating in the area.

The second half showcases how the hero finally ends up racing against time to save his girlfriend and solve the puzzle in the not so unusual “whodunit’ film . In his quest to do so he is aided by his friend Nambi and Raghuram a police inspector. 

& finally the Climax a la “INDIAN” ending giving a strong indication of a soon to follow sequel (an Ashok Selvan TRADE MARK).

Acting: - Ashok Selvan as Vetri is one among the many mushrooming new age heroes like Vijay Sethupathi, Shivakarthikryan who are well versed in the art of underplaying their characters to the tee. Gone are the days of histrionics, overplay and loud dialogue delivery. Now we have the next door boy look protagonists a trend probable set by Dhanush and now being followed by a zillion others. From Pizza to Thegidi I honestly don’t see any difference in this actor’s performance, body language or voice modulation of this otherwise smart looking hero. I don’t really blame him ‘Make hay while the sun shines’!

Janani Iyer as Madhusri is caught between the devil & the deep sea in this film. In the first half she appears to be a spunky, strong willed girl (orphan) observant & intelligent but as the film progresses her characterization deteriorates to finally reveal a not so strong and almost a dud.  She accepts the hero’s half truths and deception in spite of his numerous blatant attempts in doing so. Finally what exactly is her profession - an artist, an art critic or an art consultant or…..????

Jayaprakash as the police inspector, this ‘no nonsense’ actor should attempt such roles in future. It was in stark contrast to his similar role in the film ‘Biryani’. He has avoided acting his part. He has rather understood the role he was cast in and has lived it.

Kali as Nambi is another of the new age underplaying types and the director should be complimented on trying him in a totally different role other than the one he essayed in the film ‘MOUNAGURU’.

The Rest: - Purushothaman, Govindan, Shailesh (screen names) no cause of complaint or irritation and all of them played their roles adequately.

Finally Vallabh: - The unseen and unheard of character reserved for the sequel!

Camera: - D.O.P. Dinesh Krishnan, should be complimented on the handling of the camera and lighting. It requires a special kind of technique and lighting for shooting films of the thriller genre. He has essayed his role well and enhanced the film especially during the action shots and dimly lit night sequences. The songs could have been handled better.

Music: -Nivas Prasanna the B.G score complimented the film to a great extent all though ‘silence’ in certain portions would have served the film better. None of the songs really impressed. In fact this film would have been better off without the songs.

Edit: - Leo John Paul the edit cuts were adequate though the songs as interludes actually proved a spoil sport and made the editors work appear rather tiresome and lengthy.

Choreo: - Montages, Montages and more Montages!

Art: - On the whole the backdrop and props were pleasing and never looked out of place.

Stunts: - Standard fare. Nothing to rave about!

The ones that worked: -

1) The premise especially exposing an insurance scam (new to Tamil cinema)

2) Screen play camouflaged the pot holes in the story

3) Casting suited most of the characters

4) The back drops of the action, hotel/restaurant, and residential scenes were well matched

5) Acting - adequate

6) For a change an intelligent and smart police inspector

The ones that bombed:-

The predictability spoilt the overhaul premise of an otherwise decent thriller & the title of the film has very little bearing on the premise!

1) The gathering of information by the hero cliché and right out of a Hollywood TV serial.

2) The sequence of accidents totally predictable

3) The love between the hero and heroine lacked intensity and served no purpose

4) The involvement of those connected with the scam again predictable

5) The police involvement an half hour too late (stretching the story more than required)

 6) The heroes friend (Nambi) marginalized and served no real purpose

 7) The song sequences served no real purpose except for a series of montage shots to depict a blossoming romance

 8) The fight scene reminded one of the days of R.S.Manohar and Nambiar

9) Weak & stupid police once again falling for a plate of ‘Biryani’.

10) Lack of humour quotient in the dialogues.

Finally to sum it all up, a quote: "A critic is like an external examiner correcting a test paper. You may not agree with his valuation. You can do very little about it but to grin and bear it!" hC

Left right & Centre: - a couple in front of me

 HE- “Ok sir. I like the film, though very predictable”

SHE – “I like it, I really couldn’t predict anything” looked at HE and smiled.

My (actor) friend:-“its Ok sir I sort of liked it.”

My (business man) friend: - “I think the entire film did not have more than 30 minutes of content.”

Bottom Line: - For a THRILLER BUFF this film is like an OPEN BOOK TEST!

For the rest IT’S LIKE READING A PAGE that reveals THE CONTENTS OF THE NEXT PAGE!

*Producer C.V.Kumar should be complimented on minimizing the number of characters and avoiding frame clutter & unnecessary confusion to the viewers thereby also effecting a sizeable cut in production costs. I hope he applies a similar yardstick and tightens the script and eliminates too many leaks in his future projects

Until next time,    

Director Haricharan

Chennai

 28 /02 /2014