Thani Oruvan (The lone one) - Bravado!

Let me think of the last sane movie that ‘Jayam’ Ravi was in… may be ‘Peranmai’? Well, may be… but the box-office success is sure to date back to ‘Santosh Subramaniam’ days where his director brother (Mohan Raja as he now likes to be called) used to showcase him in glittering colors as a ‘boy-next-door’ by adapting successful tollywood hits and remaking it into a Tamil movie dosed in Andhra (or Telangana) masala. The sibling combo largely tasted success until the damp squib ‘Thillalangadi’ that put a hard stop on this juggernaut. Now yet again the siblings have joined hands and have come up with Thani Oruvan, an engaging action thriller.

It’s a classic cop versus goon story with intelligent twists and a fabricated narrative that didn’t seem to look so on screen. The casting was also uber-cool. My pick from the cast would be Aravind Swamy who has made a gutsy come-back as the baddie. He had oodles of cool and suaveness that one instantly can fall in love with. Remember that falling in love with a villain is not that easy unless the villain is charismatic and menacing at the same time. The sinisterness seem to come from deep within and the way he executes it with a cool head puts him on top for the contention for the best villain of the year. Thambi-Ramaiah as Aravind Swamy’s father or rather the goofy sidekick for the villain was another brilliant stroke that served it’s purpose by compensating for the lack of an exclusive comedy track. Another major relief was that the role of ‘Nayanthara’. Though the roots of her character sketch has been taken from the traditional ‘loosu penn’ roles that we’ve been shoved with till now, there were certain streaks of intelligence built into it which justified the screenplay. Also the lead pair’s romance was well etched - especially watch out for the gripping proposal scene where Jayam Ravi opens up his heart for Nayantara in a tense moment - that is some piece of screenplay which packed a perfect blend of romance, action and thrills that made the audience break into a thundering applause.

Last but not the least, Jayam Ravi as ‘Mithran’, the smart and tough cop has certainly lived upto the expectations of a coming-of-age, seasoned action hero who doesn’t believe much in talks, rather he would prefer his brains to do the talking most of the time. He was agile and terrific in a tailor made role that is sure to provide him with a shot in the arm during a sagging career.

Another great relief were the songs - there was a title number and 2 more songs (including a duet) with Nayantara that didn’t hamper the pace - even better was the timing of the second number that came in at the right time where the audiences were made to lookout for something cool after providing a lot of adrenaline rush through action sequences that involved brains and brawn.

Though the movie was slickly made and interestingly narrated, I couldn’t help but sense a wee bit of Ramana and Thuppaki slimily tucked under the wraps. But due credit has to be given to director Mohan Raja, who has got almost all things right this time around and would most certainly be tasting success yet again along with his sweet little sibling!

Verdict: Good

Rating: 3 / 5