Tamilarasan Movie Review

211

The film is about an honest police officer who takes the chief medic of a hospital hostage in a desperate effort to save his son after being frustrated by the management’s disdainful treatment of him. Actor Vijay Antony who was last seen in the political masala movie Kodiyil Oruvan is back on screens with his action thriller drama Tamilarasan. Actress Remya Nambeesan has depicted the female lead role in the flick. Film maker Babu Yogeswaran has written and directed the movie. The drama is based on the Hollywood entertainer John Q helmed by director James Kearns with actor Denzel Washington in the lead. So, how has the action thriller film Tamilarasan come out? Will it go on to be a commercially successful drama and help actor Vijay Antony to reignite his career? To know that let us get into the movie review. 

The flick follows the life of Tamilarasan (Vijay Antony), the one good cop in the rotten police system. His life revolves around his wife Leena (Remya Nambeesan) and their son Prabhakar (Pranav Mohan). Everything seems to move smoothly in life for the couple until their son falls sick. Prabhakar is admitted in a private hospital for treatment. The hospital management informs Tamilarasan that he needs an immediate heart transplant to survive. Tamilarasan runs to every corner to gather a huge sum for the operation. Unfortunately, he could not. Realizing his financial condition, the hospital management starts to treat him in a dismal way. 

In the meantime, a politician gets admitted in the hospital for heart transplantation surgery. And he becomes the priority. Frustrated by the callous attitude of the management, he takes Dr Muruganandam (Suresh Gopi), the chief heart surgeon of the hospital as a hostage. He demands that his son be operated immediately in return for Dr Muruganandam’s safe release. This leads to commotion in the hospital. In walks Tamilarasan’s superior officer Rana Prathap Singh (Sonu Sood), who has a score to settle with him, to handle the situation. Will Tamilarasan manage to get his son treated, or will Rana Prathap Singh sabotage his mission, and what will happen to Tamilarasan in the end, is what makes the rest of the flick. 

Tamilarasan has an imperative issue around which it wants to knit its script. Sadly, it does not have the dexterity to present it in an engaging fashion. To say that its utter dearth in craft, both in writing and execution has done great harm to the film would not be an exaggeration. Director Babu Yogeswaran has indulged in overdramatization of events to squeeze empathy out of audience to make them root for the characters. This approach pervades throughout the drama which keeps us at an arm’s distant from what unfolds on screen. With this great deficiency, Tamilarasan ambitiously seeks to explore quite a bit of topics from greed in the health care sector to sly politicians, corrupt cops, and an imperceptible connection between them all. It also briefly wanders through how insurance companies blindside their customers, illegal organ trading, and transplantation. The problematic aspect is none of the events are shaped in a manner to get us in sync with the drift.  

The film tries to position itself for a noble cause. But a dedicated runtime of 136 minutes could not manage to achieve what a single hospital scene in Ramana accomplished. Bad writing and execution are the culpable factors. There is staggering drama transpiring within the hospital. But none of the characters seem to be really concerned about their safety. It is as if every inpatient and their caregivers in the hospital already knew the offender enough that they could extend such cordial cooperation. No, the compassion card of people understanding the good intent of the lawbreaker cannot be hurled as defense. As even their initial distress is not persuasive. In fact, the cooperation of other people with the hostage-taker is an interesting idea that could have left a lasting impact had the writing been so effective. The film does have few bright moments. There are a couple of sharp dialogues aimed at the avaricious nature in the healthcare system. And a poignant conversation between a helpless father and his son who is battling for life. Unfortunately, Tamilarasan does not sway the audience much beyond these slices. 

Actor Vijay Antony has a reputation for picking interesting characters. It is understandable why he would have wanted to do this part. But this time around his risk has not been quite a payoff. The actor leaves no stone unturned to sell Tamilarasan convincingly. But the writing makes it incredibly difficult. In fact, at times it is excruciatingly painful to watch him. Actress Remya Nambeesan’s part does not have much weight to alter the plot. Unfortunately, even in the screen time she occupies she overperforms. Actor Suresh Gopi’s character is terribly written. The actor makes it worse with his dramatic performance. Actress Sangeetha’s role suffers the same fate as Suresh Gopi’s. Actor Sonu Sood serves his purpose in his stereotypical antagonist part. Veteran actor Radha Ravi lives up to his role. Actress Kasthuri Shankar is awful. Actor Yogi Babu is functional. Actress Chaya Singh is adequate. Actor Munishkanth is operational. Actors Y G Mahendra, Robo Shankar, Ashvin Raja, Manobala, and Sendrayan have all delivered an appalling performance. 

On the technical front, music director Ilaiyaraaja is clearly not at his best. His tracks are average. Even his background score is not any special but just about blends with the mood of the scenes. For most parts the movie unfolds inside a demarcated boundary. Cinematographer R D Rajasekhar’s frames should have been better to imbue a sense of freshness into the visuals. There seems to be a mix up in the editing department. Editors A L Ramesh and Bhuvan Srinivasan have done a middling job. 

On the whole, actor Vijay Antony’s Tamilarasan yet again for umpteenth time reiterates that good intentions alone cannot make for a solid entertainer.