Theri Review

After so much anticipation and among great hopes and craze, the Ilaya Thalapathy starrer flick Theri had graced the screens all over today. This Atlee directorial flick had so much factors to make people wait for the film. But the presence of Vijay in the lead role is the ultimate factor for most of the people in South India to wait for this action packed family entertainer. Atlee, the director shot to fame through the film Raja Rani, which was his debut film in 2013 had given great hope for all as many believes that he has the caliber in him to bring out a special one. His Raja Rani was indeed a special film. Theri is his second film and it is also written by this man.

The plot of the film revolves around the character Vijay Kumar IPS played by Vijay. At first we introduced to the character played by Vijay named Joseph Kuruvila who is a bakery owner in Kerala. There he lives with his little daughter Nivedhya played by baby Nainika. Amy Jackson is the teacher of Nivedhya at school and some events related to her and Nainika lead the story to flash back sequences in which Joseph Kuruvila’s true identity as Vijay Kumar is revealed before the audience. The plot moves forward from there, which shows us how and why Vijay Kumar become Joseph Kuruvila.

Fans of Vijay and film lovers as a whole was very much disappointed after seeing the las film of Vijay, named Puli. So they expected a great come back from their star and they had pinned all their hopes on Atlee. And Atlee had risen to the occasion by making a complete action packed family entertainer with all elements mixed perfectly to make the film a festival entertainer. His screenplay is a decent one with punch lines aimed at Vijay fans and emotional elements which can satisfy family audience. There is romance and space for songs too. The action sequences are expected from a Vijay film and Atlee done a terrific job in that area too.

The way he directed the film shows us one thing that he had studied the actor Vijay and the star image of the actor too. Because he had given something to perform for Vijay by staying back in his range and comfort zone and at the same time made use of his star image to its full potential. The dialogues were very good and the way he narrated the story was also engaging. Vijay gave is best as usual and his screen presence and cool looks were the highlight. He had sported 3 getups for Vijay Kumar and Joseph Kuruvila and had changed his acting style subtly to suit for each character. The malayalam dialogues by him received great applause. The stunt sequence and dance moves by him were terrific as usual.

Samantha and Amy Jackson did a great job as female leads and specially Samantha was looking gorgeous and very charming. Artists like Mahendran, Prabhu, Radhika Sarath Kumar, Rajendran etc also done their part well and a special mention to be given to Baby Nainika for her excellent performance as the daughter of Joseph Kuruvila aka Vijay Kumar. GV Prakash Kumar’s songs were not raised up to the mark and the visuals created by George C Williams had saved the songs. George’s DOP was excellent. The main negative of the film is that it loses the pace at many parts and then picks up. It affected the flow of the film. The story is an age old one and the presentation just saved it. They tried to give a message as well to the society regarding raising of our children and also related to women safety. But we can’t really say that the message reached to the audience successfully.

On the whole, Theri is a decent festival entertainer which will be a treat for the fans of Vijay and one which will not disappoint the neutral audience. The expectations are the key here. Lets go with less expectations and the movie will satisfy you.

Director : Atlee
Release Date : 14/04/2016
Cast : Vijay, Baby Nainika, Samantha

Review : Harikrishnan