After months of seeing Vishal the politician, it’s good to see Vishal the action star, with this week’s engaging Irumbu Thirai . And after Mysskin’s Thupparivaalan , this film’s meant for Vishal the actor rather than Vishal the star.
Irumbu Thirai is what the Tamil film industry refers to as an A-centre movie, and that’s because the central conceit of the film is a white-collar crime that revolves around bank accounts, online transactions, hacking and the mysterious dark web.
- Genre: Thriller
- Director: P.S. Mithran
- Cast: Vishal, Arjun, Samantha
- Storyline: An Army man investigates the dark web after money gets stolen from his bank account
Kathiravan (Vishal) is an army major, whose life turns around when he takes a bank loan to pay for his long-estranged sister’s wedding. Within minutes, the sum he’s borrowed disappears from his account. This leaves him helpless and pushes him into a complicated network of faceless cyber criminals, masterminded by a villain whose white clothing goes far beyond his collar.
As Kathiravan learns more about this network and how they operate, the audience too get a chance to learn just how easy it is for someone to hack into one’s account. And a month after Cambridge Analytica, it’s a film that deserves the benefit of the doubt. Given how little we know about such crimes, the writers do a good job of telling us just enough to understand what goes on, without it ever becoming a lecture on the dangers of switching to a digital economy, unprepared.
Yet, what’s amusing is how a film set in such a modern environment looks at outdated themes for its emotional core. It’s back to Kathiravan’s amma and thangachi sentiments to humanise his character. While the scenes involving his family and their back stories are reasonably engaging, they find little space once the movie transforms into a full-fledged investigation. This is also where the love track with Samantha wilts away, without it ever feeling complete.
Tries too much
There’s just too much the film tries to do, despite its long running time. With themes ranging from the life of an army man to identity theft and big brother surveillance there’s just too much the film’s trying to say.
That apart, Irumbu Thirai is still an engaging cautionary tales for the times we live in with a villain that’s meant for the books.
