The biggest problem in Thirunaal is that it does not chart the lead character’s transformation from animal to human being.
The trailer for PS Ramnath’s Thirunaal made me expect yet another “rowdy movie,” and the film is that – but it’s also a little more. This time, the rowdy doesn’t even have a name. He’s known by his implement of choice, a razor blade that he snaps in half and tucks into his tongue, the way Rajinikanth once stashed away cigarettes. Blade (Jiiva) has a cool trick. In action scenes, he snaps the blade into smaller pieces and spits them out at attackers.
And yet, his intro-shot tells us something. He’s not fighting. He’s not singing and dancing. He’s found sleeping in a van, in a scene that focuses on the other passengers. The character is written in a lower key than the usual rowdies who usually strut across our screens. Blade is an orphan, and he’s more like a kid who just needs a home. First, he finds that sense of belonging with Naga (Sharath Lohitashwa, who’d make a magnificent asura if we still made mythologicals), the gangster who lords over the Thanjavur-Kumbakonam area. Then, when he falls in love, Blade finds he’d rather be with Vidya (Nayantara).
To no one’s surprise, she softens him – or given his nick, maybe we should say she blunts his edges. She gives him a name, Ganesh. She gives him a birthday, hers. In return, he gives her a lovely song (Srikanth Deva’s Pazhaya soru). There is nothing here that we haven’t seen earlier, but the director has a way of surprising us with little touches. Vidya’s father (Joe Malloori) is imbued with a quiet dignity. He never raises his voice – not when Naga (his business partner) cheats him of his share, not even when he catches the soon-to-be-engaged-to-someone-else Vidya with Blade.
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