‘Por Thozhil’ movie review: Sarath Kumar and Ashok Selvan shoulder a brilliant investigative thriller – The Hindu

A mean individual’s physique temperature is 37°C and as a useless physique loses round one-degree Celsius per hour, checking the physique’s temperature on the crime scene will give a tough concept of what number of hours again the homicide was dedicated. When a novice cop on his first project deduces this, his mentor, together with the viewers, is bowled over by the ingenuity. Such clever characters are a product of sensible writing and that’s what units aside Por Thozhilfrom different investigative thrillers we’ve gotten accustomed to because of OTT platforms’ fascination with the style.

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Buddy cop motion pictures that international movies familiarised us with contain two folks of very totally different and conflicting personalities who’re pressured to work collectively to resolve a criminal offense, typically studying from one another within the course of. Whereas movies like Within the Warmth of the Night time and Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Canine (which was additionally the inspiration for 8 Thottakkal), outlined the style, publish the 80s, movies like Beverly Hills Cop, Tango & Money, Rush Hour, Dangerous Boys and even Deadly Weapon made the style synonymous with action-comedy movies. Nearer dwelling, one of the best instance one can consider is Kuruthipunal and Por Thozhil toofinds itself a neat spot in that elusive record. Por Thozhil, the story of a seasoned police officer Lokanathan (Sarath Kumar) paired with a younger recruit Prakash (Ashok Selvan), and the dichotomy between the 2 characters, closely jogged my memory of Stray Canine and Deadly Weapon however the similarities cease there. Whereas the 2 leads warming up to one another is the underlying motive of the movie, they don’t have time for an ice-breaking session as a serial killer is on the free.

Each tracks – the one involving the unlikely duo getting right into a groove and the opposite being the hunt for the killer – have their fair proportion of implausible moments and downers. However it’s how these plots mix collectively seamlessly that tends to go away us permissive of the minor misses. Talking of which, the lengths the movie goes to with a purpose to set up the 2 main characters’ demeanours as two ends of a particularly vast spectrum felt a bit fanciful. Letting Prakash discuss his spectacular educational achievements and displaying Lokanathan’s acumen when he surmises the killer’s motives aren’t the identical as Prakash being ostensive of bringing his capturing medal with him on a piece journey and Lokanathan being needlessly curt to fellow officers. As a result of, by then, the movie has already established Prakash to be book-smart and jittery whereas Lokanathan is street-smart, reclusive and hardened because of years of service. Additionally, the psychopath killer’s motive and attributes might’ve been fleshed out in a greater method. A greater casting selection would have in all probability made us get extra accustomed to that character, given the restricted display screen time. For a movie that pulls off a superb casting coup for an integral character – if not for the entire movie – doing it once more wouldn’t have been a problem.

Sarath Kumar, Ashok Selvan and Nikhila Vimal in a nonetheless from ‘Por Thozhil’
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Debutant director Vignesh Raja, who has written the movie with Alfred Prakash, has pulled off an outstanding job with the remainder of the movie, making the minor mishaps virtually really feel like a product of nitpicking. Their confidence within the story is obvious given the dearth of motion sequences regardless of having two cop characters and considered one of them being performed by one of many greatest motion stars of the 90s and early 2000s Tamil cinema. It’s not daily we get to see a thriller the place a killer is revealed even earlier than the intermission. The way in which Nikhila Vimal’s character will get included into the grand scheme of issues and her banter with Prakash with out pulling us away from the core concept of the movie works effectively. Regardless of minor glitches, Por Thozhil is without doubt one of the finest thrillers we’ve had in Tamil shortly. It’s a powerful whodunnit with an intriguing plot headlined by sensible performances from Sarath Kumar and Ashok Selvan. In an integral scene, Sarath factors out that motive is extra vital than proof and Vignesh Raja has made his motive fairly evident; he’s right here to remain.

Por Thozhil is presently operating in theatres

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