The bullet plays a pivotal role in Thuppakki Munai , which opens with the story of Birla Bose (Vikram Prabhu), an encounter specialist from Mumbai, who doesn’t think twice when it comes to pulling the trigger. Birla is convinced that every criminal has to be assassinated, and every bullet he fires has to bear his name. A few encounters later, Birla is suspended from the force. And his misled moral compass is questioned when his doctor-mother, calls him a “murderer”. Five years later, the story shifts to Rameswaram, where Birla Bose is assigned to encounter Azad (Shiva), who’s falsely charged for a sexual assault.
- Cast: Vikram Prabhu, Hansika Motwani, MS Bhaskar and Vela Ramamoorthy
- Director: Dinesh Selvaraj
- Storyline: An encounter specialist has to deal with a complicated case that challenges his moral high ground
Thuppakki Munai is yet another Tamil film that employs rape as a plot device in eliciting sympathy. By choosing to deliver a social message about the recent crimes in the state, the film fails to engage us for the most part. It moderately works, thanks to MS Bhaskar’s performance. However, it appears as if Bhaskar has been typecast in roles that require him to look at the camera and break down in his signature style (picture the scene from 8 Thottakal ). The first half is rushed, and doesn’t properly establish its characters, in the sense that the film keeps you less invested in its proceedings.
The problem with Thuppakki Munai lies in its writing... it tries too much, but achieves very little on screen. There’s an interesting angle about an erstwhile Maoist from Bihar, who works as a migrant worker in Chennai. But Selvaraj seems to be content in writing a film for the masses.
