The ‘angry young man’ is a character that defines an era in Indian cinema. Amitabh Bachchan has long been associated with this tag, thanks to his memorable outings in Hindi cinema of the 1970s.
Closer home, in recent times, Arulnithi seems to have been smitten by this character trait. In his latest Tamil release, Thiruvin Kural, he plays Thiru, an angry young man right from the beginning: when he sees a girl being uncomfortable in a city bus, he immediately beats up the goons disturbing her.
This happens even a few sequences later when he is in a hospital lift. And much later, on the road. Thiru is the kind to get angry at the slightest instance.
This could come across as any usual Tamil film hero, but there’s a difference here: Thiru is speech and hearing impaired.
Also read: The Hindu Cinema team’s favourite Tamil films of the decade
This, obviously, means that he cannot deliver macho dialogues after beating up the bad guys. He cannot have conversations with people who have problems. And yet, he has to be the winner in the end. This character trait is that one big interesting idea in director Harish Prabhu’s film, but unfortunately, remains the only idea till the very end.
Thiruvin Kural (Tamil)
Thiru’s life is rocked when his father has to be rushed to the hospital following an accident. What happens afterwards?
Director Harish Prabhu seems to seek visual cues for everything he wants to convey, and that’s a problem especially when he wants to show the bad guys. Two seconds before you see one of them — a lift operator in a hospital — the camera zooms in on treacherous eyes and unruly hair. The people entering the lift look terrified and uncomfortable for no plausible reason.
Many murders happen — for no reason — and one of them is somehow linked to Thiru, who has been a bystander for too long. And, as expected, he rises to the occasion, eyes flaring up at any given instance of injustice.
Thiru will speak up. Even if he can’t. In short, you will hear ‘thiruvin kural’.
The makers get some of the casting right — Ashraf as Aarumugam plays his menacing part well — and presses upon the influence that staff members in a hospital have over proceedings, but Thiruvin Kural has little else going for it. Bharathiraaja, who had a good presence in last year’s Dhanush-starrer Thiruchitrambalam, has little to do here. To make things worse, his relationship with Thiru — the ‘father sentiment’ is supposed to be the driving factor of the film — is hardly established. The songs of composer Sam CS sound subdued while his background tracks largely remind us of his earlier work. Thiruvin Kural needed a lot more finesse added to its core interesting idea.
Thiruvin Kural is currently running in theatres
