Film: Thulli Vilaiyaadu
Director: Vincent Selva
Cast: Yuvaraj, Senrayan, Soori, Deepthi, Prakashraj, Jayprakash
Cinematographer-director Vincent Selva returns after a long sabbatical with Thulli Vilaiyaadu. The director, who has helmed Vijay-starrers like Priyamudan and Youth, this time takes a crime-humour-road adventure as his theme.
But the lacklustre characters, insipid narration and shoddy screenplay make the film devoid of thrill, humour or excitement.
With no big names in the lead, the story revolves around three friends who aspire to make it big and how they go about achieving their goals. Yuvaraj is a businessman, Senrayan a top hero and Soori a politician.
The narration then takes a trip down their past, where one gets to know how the trio had gone about fulfilling their dreams.
The scenes depicting their past do not offer anything interesting. While Yuvaraj has had to deal with the taunts of his stepmother, Soori works in a butcher shop and Senrayan makes futile attempts to impress TV serial directors.
There comes a turn in their lives when the trio steals crores of black money belonging to a local politician Samimalai (Jayaprakash).
The next few scenes do give promise of some interesting moments.
With the politician suspecting his confidante Singham, a gangster (Prakashraj), of stealing his money, the narration picks up momentum. Singham, to prove his innocence and loyalty, has to find the culprits and get back the money .
The thug and his goons trace the trio to Rajasthan, where the rest of the plot is played out. But the narration soon loses steam, the happenings sans any thrill, excitement or humour. There is a half-hearted chase by goons on camels.
The trio also encounters Yamuna (a chubby, bubbly Deepthi Nambiar), who had run away from home to Rajasthan to meet her elder sister Asin (the actress), who was shooting there.
It’s an insipid, almost invisible love-track between Yuvaraj and Yamuna.
Though the humour seems sudden and out of place, Prakashraj manages to raise a few laughs in the scenes where his memory is triggered by the playing of some old Hindi songs and talks about his old lost love.
There’s another gun-wielding group of assorted Indians and foreigners, who turn Yamunas’ protectors.
The only interesting moment is in the finale —where the trio, caught between Singham and Sivamalai, play a smart card and bluff their way out. But the director negates it by a silly after-scene. Thulli Vilaiyadu could have been an interesting crime-humour thriller.
But the slipshod, sloppy and amateurish narration at times, makes it remain just a mediocre fare.