Production: Editor Mohan, Kalanidhi Maaran
Banner: Sun Pictures, Jeyam Company
Direction: Jeyam Raja
Casts: Jeyam Ravi, Tamanna, Shyam, Vadivelu, Santhanam, Mansoor Ali Khan, Prabhu, Livingstone, Thyagu, Sathyan, Mayilsamy, Deepu, Suhasini, Nalini, Lakshmi, Latha Rao, Chandra Lakshman, Lollu Sabha Manohar, John Vijay, Balaji, Jayaprakash and Raja
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Lyrics: Vaali, Na.Muthukumar, Vivega
Cinematography: Rajashekar
Art: Milan
Action: Rocky Rajesh
Jeyam Ravi’s previous films with his elder brother Raja have been commendable remakes and Thillalangadi isn’t an exception. Director Raja has copied each and every shot from the original version Kick. Of course, the film has been delivered in an entertaining manner with the attempts of savoring the universal audiences. Kudos to Surendar Reddy: the maker of original version for crafting a commendable tale and gripping screenplay.
To be precise, Jeyam Raja can be doubtlessly ennobled as the ‘Best Remake Director’ for exactly replicating others’ ideas. Of course, Kick itself was inspired from Hollywood’s famous thriller Catch me if you can, but it was only with the plot. Thillalangadi isn’t different from Kick. The only difference is couple of additional songs.
Krishna (Jeyam Ravi) is a happy-go-lucky youngster, who often commits himself into risks as he feels the right Kick over it. Well for Nisha (Tamanna), what starts as a hatred turns into love with Krishna. But sooner as she finds her beau so irresponsible swapping jobs often, she breaks up with him. Sooner the story shifts to Malaysia, where Nisha’s parents arrange her marriage with Krishna Kumar (Shaam), a tough and honest cop. Krishna uncovers that he has traveled all the way to Malaysia to trap a smart thief, who has been looting crores of money from leading tycoons and politicians. The intriguing part of the film is about the fact that the thief is none other than Nisha’s ex-boyfriend Krishna.
Rest of the film is all about how Krishna wins back the heart of Nisha and the reason behind his robberies having a substantial reason.
The biggest problem with Thillalangadi is about each and every actor aping the characters of Kick. Be it the lead actors Ravi and Thamannah or Santhanam imitating Telugu actor Ali, it’s really absurd and Raja should have focused letting them act their own way. Tamanna looks cute, but again her imitation of Ileana could have been avoided. Just watch out for her gestures while performing aerobics as it’s too clumsy. Ravi looks cute and chirpy and his performance during last 45 mins is perfect. Vadivelu is good with his comedy tracks while Santhanam doesn’t get enough footage. Shaam is extraordinary with his mind-boggling acting. He looks fit and perfectly suits the role of a tough cop. It’s better if Shaam continues to choose such roles in future. Prabhu excels with his minimal role and Suhasini sleepwalks through her role. Radha Ravi evokes laughter with his dialogues. But the silliest part is about Raja copying even the lines ‘Jil Jil Jiga’ from Telugu as it is often uttered by Manobala (The reason ‘Jil Jil Jiga’ appears in Kick is that because the famous song in ‘Happy Days’ starts with these fancy words).
Just as mentioned before, Raja hasn’t strained him even to the least extent. The screenplay from the beginning till the end is the same as in Kick. At least Raja could’ve avoided the minuses of the original version as second hour is too long and sluggish except the flashback sequences and climax.
Musical score by Yuvan Shankar is okay while Rajasekhar’s cinematography is mediocre. Editing looks sleek and stylish.
On the whole, Thillalangadi is a family entertainer as it carries the right mix of fun, romance, sentiments, and action. Next time Raja makes a film, we request him to come up with his own ideas rather than remaking films.
Verdict: Watch it once
‘Thillalangadi’ is the remake of Telugu film ‘Kick’ starring Ravi Teja and Ileana in the lead. The Tamil version will have Jayam Ravi and Tamannaah in the lead which is being directed by Jayam Raja. Vadivelu plays the comedy role played by Brahmanandam in the original. Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music is going good in the market. Prabhu and Santhanam play the prominent roles.
No sooner than the promotional activities have started a few days back Sun Pictures has announced that the film is all set for its release on July 23rd.
Sources say “Thillalangadi is a light-hearted comedy film till the interval. The twist comes in the second-half where the movie would all of a sudden take off as an action thriller. On the whole, it is going to be a wholesome treat.”
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After a string of blockbusters to his credit, remake king Jayam Raja and brother Jayam Ravi is back with their next venture Thillalangadi, a remake of the Telugu hit Kick. Jayam Ravi and Tamannaah play the lead roles and Shaam reprises his role from the original. Ravi has returned to his chocolate boy look after donning an action hero’s look in Peranmai. This is Ravi’s first film after marriage; Prabhu and Suhasini play pivotal roles; Vadivelu provides comic relief; music is scored by Yuvanshankar Raja.
Produced by Editor Mohan, the film is an out-and-out entertainer with peppy songs. Thillalangadi is the story of an intelligent thief who loots money from the rich and the famous, so who is that thief? Will he get caught? Watch out for the film!
The Plot
Thillalangadi is the story of a young man Ravi (Krishna) who is adventurous and seeks excitement in his everyday life. The urban, smart and cool-headed guy finds it difficult to stick to any job. But destiny dictates that he meet Nisha (Tamannaah), and fall in love with her. Prabhu and Suhasini play caring parents of Ravi.
Nisha sets a condition that he must stick to one job if he wants to marry her. But when she learns that Krishna has quit his new job immediately after joining, she is disillusioned and decides to leave him. She then decides to move to Malaysia, where she meets police officer (Shaam) and decides to marry him. Shaam is on a mission to nab a thief which naturally turns out to be Krishna. How Krishna manages to evade arrest and also win back his lady love forms the remaining part of the story.
The Performance
Director Jayam Raja has made every effort to efficiently deliver this action-packed adventure filmed extensively in Malaysia. The first half has loads of humour with Ravi, Vadivelu and Santhanam. The on-screen chemistry between Tamannaah and Ravi is convincing. Tamannaah dishes out a satisfactory performance as she perfectly fits her assigned role. Tamannaah as Nisha oozes glamour. The director has fine-tuned his approach and manages to pull off a good entertainer.
B. Rajasekhar’s camera work is a highlight; Yuvanshankar Raja’s music is just up to the mark. Ravi, as usual, stands out with his performance as he oozes energy with matching dialogues. Shaam makes a memorable performance which is the major highlight of the film.
The Verdict
Overall, the film gives light-hearted entertainment that will definitely not disappoint anyone. This is a flashy film with a predictable plot and loads of action.
A care-free youth who literally cares about nothing is surrounded by four of his friends (coterie). He falls head-over-heels in love with the heroine the moment he comes across her. After a few bickering incidents, they become inseparable. There is a mandatory comedian and the story journeys till interval without any twist and then occurs a twist which transforms the film from a light-hearted venture into an almost action movie!
Krishna (‘Jeyam’ Ravi) Ravi doesn’t last for more than four days in any job. He just quits the job just for the thrill of it. For the same thrill (or ‘kick’), he narrates in detail to Nalini (who plays an MLA) that his daughter was about to be married secretly by a friend of his. He, however, plays the good Samaritan by saving his friend and his wife from the clutches of Nalini.
During the course of the marriage of his friend, Krishna meets Nisha (Tamannaah) and falls for her the second he sees her. He proposes to her and at the same tells her not to immediately agree to his proposal as it would rob him of the ‘kick’ of whether or not she agrees to his idea of marrying her. When she ultimately falls for his charm, she concludes that Krishna’s attitude would hurt her in the long run and then leaves for Malaysia.
Krishanakumar (Shaam), a cop based in Malaysia, seeks Nisha’s hand in marriage. If Krishanakumar is the police, shouldn’t Krishana be the thief he goes after? How does and what for Krishana becomes a thief? Does he get caught by the police? Does he get Nisha or not? Watch the film to find answers to these queries: if we reveal them, the ‘kick’ would be lost, isn’t it?
‘Jeyam’ Ravi has understanding parents in Prabhuand Suhasini and is allowed by them to just wander around without taking on any responsibility. Ravi does anything just for the ‘kick’ (or thrill) of doing it. Ravi’s initial characterization does remind one of Ajit in ‘Kadhal Mannan’ long back. If Ajit would even risk his life to win a challenge, Ravi in this film would even risk others’ lives to get the ‘kick’ (read thrill) he wants.
Vadivelu tries his best to tickle the viewers’ funny bones and succeeds to some extent. Radharavi is also there but not as a villain but as another comedian. We also have many more comedians in Manobala, ‘Ganja’ Karuppu and Santhanam.
The lackluster script doesn’t clearly spell out whether Shaam is actually a second hero or a villain. Going by his deeds, Shaam is not a villain who is engaged in a sort of ‘competition’ with Ravi. It would have been lot better if Shaam’s role is depicted with some ‘grey’ shades.
As usual, Ravi has done his part very well with some comedy, lightening stunt sequences and remaining active. He can’t do much as the role doesn’t test his full acting prowess. Shaam looks nice in his cop attire and speaks less but manages to make an impression. He displays his maturity as an actor when he understands the love brewing between Ravi and Tamannaah.
It appears that Tamil film directors have concluded that cine-goers would like the heroine if she is shown to be out of the ordinary – as a dull-head, to put it mildly. Tamannaah, who played the same role in ‘Suraa’ recently, repeats her act in this film as well. Raja’s films usually have the heroine playing an important role but the trend changes in the film and as a result, Tamannaah is left to display not her acting prowess but her hour-glass figure and tanned body. The opening sequence showing her practicing yoga is proof enough of what to expect from her in the film. She emotes in the only sequence when she leaves Ravi for Malaysia.
Prabhu, for his talents, doesn’t really deserve such a dumb role even if it’s a ‘guest role’. The dialogue has comical sense but it fails to make any serious impact in serious scenes. Thaman, who scored the music for the film ‘Eeram’, has done a good job of scoring the background music. Yuvan’s music is peppy but only a couple of songs are hummable. Cinematography by Rajasekar is good and shows Malaysia as it has never been shown in the past. It’s mostly his camerawork that has contributed a lot in the film’s ‘jolly’ mood in the first half.
Despite the many flaws in the screenplay and story, the film somehow manages to entertain with comedy elements.
The promos of the just released ‘Thillanangadi’ (starring ‘Jeyam’ Ravi and Tamannaah in the lead) being aired on various television channels have irked Congress workers in Tamil Nadu.
In the promos, Tamannaahs says that her objective in life was to become either a police officer or a software engineer. To this, ‘Jeyam’ Ravi is shown to be replying that “I want you to become either a Sonia Gandhi (chairperson of the ruling UPA at the centre) or a tennis player like Sania Mirza”. It’s this reference to Sonia Gandhi that has stirred up a hornet’s nest.
Congressmen say that these dialogues openly make fun of Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the ruling UPA at the centre. In a statement, TNCC chief Thangkabalu has said that “The promos of the film ‘Thillalangadi’, which are repeatedly aired on various television channels, ridicule Sonia Gandhi who guides the Manmohan Singh-led Central government in its functioning.
“The ridiculing dialogues are repeatedly telecast, which have hurt the sentiments of the Congressmen in the State. None of the party volunteers would tolerate this. I strongly condemn the dialogue ridiculing the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The said dialogue should be removed from the main film at once.”
Some activists of the Congress party took out a rally from the Congress Headquarters in the city upto a cinema hall in Anna Salai where the film was being screened. They raised slogans standing in front of the cinema halls and tore away posters of the film from the nearby walls.
This post should be tagged with: Thillalangadi, Congress, TV channels, Sun Pictures, Jeyam Ravi, Tammannah, Santhanam, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Jeyam Raja