‘Pathu Thala’ movie review: Simbu sizzles, but this gangster drama lacks any real punch – The Hindu

Probably the most hanging points of filmmaker Narthan’s 2017 Kannada movie Mufti was the way it fleshed out a world of crime from the eyes of a cop despatched undercover to search out an notorious mafia don. From the start, the shadow of the crime lord, performed by Shiva Rajkumar, loomed giant over each single scene till his eventual grand look. Even earlier than we see him, he turned a fable, a ghost, a Godfather-like determine, and the anticipation was actual.

In Mufti’s Tamil remake Pathu Thala, Silambarasan TR, as crime lord AG Raavanan a.okay.a AGR, will get a grand entrance midway into the film, however director Obeli N Krishna chooses to indicate him in a shot proper at the start. Some mystique stays. And although the story nonetheless follows the undercover cop Sakthivel (Gautham Karthik), who infiltrates AGR’s gang, a lot of how he goes about it and the function he performs within the movie, will get diluted. These usually are not actually let-downs; in reality, much more and larger concepts of the unique materials have been consciously performed round with, some bettering the story and a few butchered mercilessly, making Pathu Thala a movie by itself.

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We open amidst a tense political battle throughout the ruling social gathering of Tamil Nadu; Arunmozhi (Santhosh Pratap), the Chief Minister, and Naanjilaar Gunasekaran (Gautham Vasudev Menon), the Deputy Chief Minister influential sufficient to topple the federal government, don’t see eye-to-eye. In a stunning flip of occasions, the Chief Minister will get kidnapped, and all eyes flip in direction of AGR, an notorious mining mafia head in Kanyakumari. As all efforts finish in useless, Gautham Karthik’s Sakthivel (as Gana), is distributed to seek out out extra. Most throughout the social gathering suspect Naanjilaar’s hand within the disappearance of the CM, and this solely provides to his anger at AGR.

The screenplay of Pathu Thala is woven tight — greater than the supply materials — however there are too many points in how this movie is paced. Not one of the characters manages to create an impression, and all the things feels rushed. Selvam (Teejay Arunasalam), together with Sabari and Singa, are the right-hand males of AGR; the movie touts them as vital however doesn’t care sufficient to present them any significance within the story.

Even that romance involving Gautham Karthik doesn’t sit properly. Proper at the start, we’re informed that the newly-appointed Tahsildar of the Kanyakumari district, Leela Thompson (Priya Bhavani Shankar), is an ex-lover of Sakthivel. Leela is at loggerheads with AGR’s males, and each the crime lord and Sakthivel know it. In case you are an undercover cop making an attempt to nab a gangster who has killed greater than 40 such spies, wouldn’t you take a look at your ex being in the identical city, not to mention being concerned within the subject, as a free finish to be taken care of? We by no means get a dialog between the 2 about his involvement within the mafia.

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Director Krishna’s writing and execution of emotional sequences even have some startling tonal variations. For example, Pathu Thala on the centre is a narrative a couple of brother and a sister; AGR’s sister Samudra (Anu Sithara) refuses to speak to him after an unforgivable betrayal on his half. The rationale why she doesn’t go to the authorities about it and the logic behind each different motion she takes within the script have to be stable, however Pathu Thala doesn’t provide all that. However, the identical movie doesn’t go for the traditional flashback sequence for the siblings, opting to deal with it subtly by way of a single shot that claims quite a bit about the home they dwell in.

It’s excessive time that Tamil administrators cease overplaying the Nayagan-ish Robinhood-figure trope. Simbu’s AGR is projected as a person who mines to supply for the poor. “A nasty face is required to do some good,” he says. It really works largely and makes manner for a couple of good punchlines that maintain Simbu followers on their toes, however the identical do-gooder sentiment when repeated typically does get a bit tedious.

Silambarasan, nevertheless, is at all times a delight to look at when he will get going, and his palpable, explosive on-screen power is as soon as once more on nice show. Gautham Karthik is the shock bundle; he comes on high with a very commendable efficiency. Nonetheless, each the leads are let down because of the screenplay and Gautham’s character is rendered much less good because the story strikes, whereas Simbu doesn’t get sufficient substance to energy this mass persona.

It’s solely a spectacularly-shot motion sequence within the second half that provides any power to this movie which has an atrocious reveal that may put any technological development of the twenty first century to disgrace. Pathu Thala can also be a type of rarest instances the place the background rating helps the movie’s power in a single scene, whereas additionally killing it in one other.

It’s unfair to match Mufti and Pathu Thala; nevertheless, this remake is an effective case research of the way it isn’t sufficient to infuse extra novelty on paper if the identical doesn’t translate to the display.

Pathu Thala is at present operating in theatres

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