Thunivu is full of ignorance, what is Ajith Kumar doing in this movie?

The curiosity, attention to detail, no-nonsense approach to storytelling, and the innate discipline that defined H Vinoth as a promising filmmaker early in his career are missing in Thunivu. Police drama Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru is Vinoth’s best work to date. This true-event-inspired film follows a policeman’s efforts to track down a gang of brutal bandits in Tamil Nadu.

Theeran is set in the early 90’s. The procedural drama sheds light on a period when police had no central system to share information between jurisdictions, which in turn got off track and slowed down the process of identifying criminals who committed crimes outside their communities. The film grippingly captures the exasperating callousness of police departments, the role played by self-serving politicians and the frustration of honest cops who want to protect people’s lives from senseless crime. It gives us a sense of the restlessness of Theeran Thirumaran (Karthi) as he searches for a notorious armed robber hiding in northern India.

Karthi in Theeran Adhigaram Ondru.

Theeran elicited a visceral response from the audience. It makes us fear for our safety and makes us on edge. We can feel Theeran’s desperation, but we root for his resilience, courage and determination to stop the bandits.

Where is Vinoth, the filmmaker who exploits our fears so successfully and manipulates our emotions in such deft ways? It was not pleasant to watch his talent fade. Theeran isn’t just about the data points Vinoth collects in his research. It tells a story that explores an untold side of the country’s dark culture. Thunivu lacks that vision.

Thunivu tries to make Ajith a lovable action hero with a bunch of weird fight scenes that don’t have any emotion. Everything happens on the surface level. While Vinoth struggles to pull off this heist flick, there’s no depth in this way of pleasing everyone. Periodic big explosions and shootouts don’t make the movie engaging; they just temporarily distract the director from the lack of good material.

Thunivu tells the adventures of a gang led by a notorious gangster whose street name is the Black Devil.The gang took control of a bank located in the city center ChennaiAt first it seems that the Dark Lord just wants to rob banks, but there is a noble reason behind his actions. The flimsiest subplot doesn’t do the film any favors, other than to make us feel like Vinoth himself is ashamed of the backstory and wants to rush it for obligatory reasons. Even before we know the names of the characters who influenced the dark devil to carry out such a blatant attack on the national banking system, the story is over. We don’t care about any of the characters in the movie, except for Ajith’s star status. What is he doing in the movie?

Thunivu puts Ajith in an awkward position and doesn’t properly define his character’s personality. It’s confusing because Ajith is out of sync with his character’s motivations. The film assumes that it portrays the Dark Lord as a playful, stylish middle-aged man with a passion for drama. But that is not the case. All of Ajith’s antics in the movie feel forced and unnatural. If Vinoth thought that Ajith’s looks could mask a lack of imagination, he was wrong. Manju Warrier’s talent is wasted in this movie too. Like everyone else, she wasn’t emotionally invested in her performance.

Vinoth is also unaware of the complexity of the subject matter he is dealing with. The movie tries to explain how when a company goes bankrupt, the founders get rich, but retail investors bear the brunt and lose their investment. The problem is that the movie doesn’t seem to know anything about the problems it’s trying to solve. It simplifies the most complex problems and presents them through a black and white prism. It does not explore banking culture, the loopholes that make the rich richer, the fragility of the system, and the important role banks play in protecting and increasing public wealth.

Later in the film, when the hostage situation turns into some version of a sitcom, the Dark Lord says something along the lines of: “Money should be in a piggy bank, not in a real bank.” Smells of ignorance, doesn’t it?

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— Boney Kapoor (@BoneyKapoor) January 17, 2023

The value of a currency is determined entirely by its purchasing power and is constantly fluctuating for various reasons. As the government’s demonetization strategy demonstrates, even large notes can lose value overnight. Or a stronger dollar value could depreciate the Indian rupee, affecting its purchasing power. So keeping money safely in a piggy bank is not going to help people much. The movie was supposed to highlight the need to fix the holes in the banking system and level the playing field for individuals to invest and grow their wealth. Instead, Thunivu views stock market fraud committed by banks as a petty money scam.

In the process, Thunivu needlessly demonized the banking industry without carefully considering what impact it might have on an unsuspecting and impressionable audience. It offers a very impractical solution to this huge problem. Not everyone can hijack a bank and bring the rich and powerful to justice. This series of plot devices further hinders a poorly researched and ill-conceived movie. The backstory involving the Dark Demon crew is especially cheesy. The characters played by Amir and Pavani have no on-screen chemistry, nor does the death of an important character have any emotional beats.

Thunivu (courage) and Valimai (strength) aren’t the only relevant qualities to make a movie about. One also needs Vivegam (wisdom) to make a smart movie that honors the Viswasam (loyalty) of die-hard fans.