Ajith's Veeram and Vijay's Jilla released on the same date - 10 January 2014. Though there was a moment of confusion deciding on the movie to watch the first day-first show - mainly due to the Mohanlal factor - I easily ended up with the Ajith-starrer. Today, there was no such difficulty; it was an Atlee-Vijay movie Vs. No-Ajith movie. I don't think there is any other audience in the country that is almost equally fond of a director as it is of a star. Yes, the director's title card too received a fair round of whistles and applause. But I'm sure, in the end none of those cheerboys would have felt happy about his impulsive act at the start. There is no Raja Rani effect in Theri (Spark). Atlee has been engulfed by the Vijay flame. And ilaya thalapathi walks away with one more story of revenge in his kitty. But the slight twists and the toning down of heroism the movie has attempted, make it stand a little ahead of the likes of Thirupachi, Sivakasi, et al - though not altogether in a different turf. Theri is very much a Vijay drama, drenched in mother-sister-daughter-wife-lover-allotherkindsofladies-sentiment, mindless action with lots of fat goondas, preachy dialogues, logic-free script, and crazily colourful songs.
The film opens with the now famous father-daughter song sequence, but don't expect anything new here. Its all about placing the stock montages of dancing in the rain, pillow-fight, usual pranks, etc. But you have to give it to Baby Nainika; she has the spark; she has the genes too. Soon the script meanders and you are left to wonder, what is happening! And you expect things to pickup at least after the Baasha-effect scene at the police station. But, sorry. More than anything you can feel the lack of creativity as the dialogs and scenes lavishly rely on comical references to many movies like Thupaaki, Raja Rani, Aadukalam and Balakumara. Finally, you arrive at the back story of the dad-girl duo, and the chilling past of Joseph Kuruvilla - he was the daredevil DCP Vijay Kumar. In his earlier version, his close ones are killed in cold blood by Vanamalai (Mahendran, director). (The line broadly resembles Yennai Arindhal). But, for some emotional and cinematic reasons the DCP does not avenge their deaths, and instead prefers to live incognito as a Kuruvilla selling some bakery items in a remote village in Kerala, along with his department driver (Rajendran). Soon, incidents are created for the baker to wear khaki and become the cop, the dreaded DCP Vijay Kumar again. But there is some kind of a novelty here, if you may call so. (No more spoilers). Soon, the procedure of revenge unfolds lazily in the autopilot mode - but, the movie lives on. How?! Just like Indian thaatha making a call from abroad before the end credits, the DCP also continues to live in the farthest corners of the country and perform the job of a police-appointed vigilante, something similar to even the nextdoor Anniyan and Kandasamy. (Don't worry it is not as bad as it sounds).
The director has gone back to his mentor Shankar's mould - the group songs have hundreds of side artists clad in rainbow dresses, and some basic CG work. Some of the songs dazzle to the point of creating a wave of nausea in the theatre. The movie is GV Prakash's 50th film as a composer and he has done a decent job; though some of the tunes have the potential to take you back to the past. It is unfortunate that even with a good artist for comedy like Vijay, the director has not been able to make use of it. Though there is humour, everything looks pale before the Raja Rani or Ghilli comedy sequences. But Mahendran, as an actor, deserves special mention. He shines in the limited footage he gets. He oozes evil. Samantha has done a repeat of Thangamagan and zillion other similar movies she has done. Other artists like Radhika, Amy Jackson, Prabhu, etc. are also present. Some scenes like the one in the hospital after the rape are really moving. And there is good enough violence sprinkled too.
Theri is strictly for Vijay fans.
- and that is the single most flaw of the movie.
Hope Kabali does not turn out to be a Rajni cinema.
