IRUMBU THIRAI MOVIE REVIEW
Movie Title
Irumbu Thirai
Irumbu Thirai(Iron Screen) - An intelligent tale in digital India/A solid cybercrime action thriller/A smart thriller Film
Director:
PS Mithran
Cast:
Vishal, Samantha Akkineni, Delhi Ganesh, Robo Shankar
Storyline:
An Army Officer investigates the dark web after money gets stolen fron his bank account. "Did you know that your phone number is with 30 lakh people?" states a voice at the beginning of Irumbu Thirai and that's just one of the numerous shocking facts that are thrown at us in this 160-minute eye-opener.
Irumbuthirai (Iron Screen) revolves around the ‘dark net’ — the ugly side of the internet where we find several big brothers surveilling us. Cybercrime, data theft, information breach. Technology has percolated deeply into our lives and we have started to realise how vulnerable we are, and what could happen if that data reaches places, it shouldn’t. Director P S Mithran's meticulous research in the field of data leakage is the biggest strength of the film. And the research work is not limited to paperwork, Mithran has smartly placed everything within the commercial format.
Vishal has produced and acted as the protagonist in this new age cyber thriller that speaks in layman terms how the common man's data can be stolen and used against him by the modern criminal. He is someone who constantly learns from his enemy.
Major Kathiravan (Vishal) is an upright army officer, who has a haunting past wants to leave the country and settle abroad,but he has anger issues and so his higher officials send him to psychiatrist Rathi Devi (Samantha) who turns him into a matured person, who as a therapy asks him to go to his village and gets him back his lost family. Kathiravan hates his dad (Delhi Ganesh) for his irresponsibility and his nature of running away from loan sharks. The younger sister is in love with a rich man whose parents demand ten lakhs worth of jewellery. Vishal has no other go to conduct the wedding of his sister. So, the hero and his father try to procure a loan but are turned down by all the banks. An agent offers to help them in getting a loan from a popular bank for forged documents. However, a cybercrime network swindle all the money from his dad account and they cannot go to the police as the documents are forged. Vishal sets out to find the cyber network head is White Devil aka Sathyamurthy (Arjun). Now Kathir has to trace out this dangerous stranger and unmasks him in front of the thousands of innocent middle-class people. The cat and mouse game between the two forms the rest of the screenplay.
Action King Arjun as the sauve and tech savvy villain Sathyamoorthy aka White Devil approaches his role with subtlety and his minute expressions add color to the character. Though Arjun comes only in a few scenes, his majestic screen presence is felt because of the solid buildup given for his character. The cat and mouse game between Vishal and Arjun in the second half has been cleverly handled, both of them gets upper hand with each situation and entertains us throughout. His words are "He is the scorpion and all his victims are thieves is received by thunderous applause". He also says "Information is Wealth".
Samantha Akkineni plays a pivotal role in the film. As psychologist Rathi Devi, the doctor who treats Kathir’s anger issues, she plays her part well. She gets her mass moment when she leads the villains into a trap set by the hero. Her role is crucial in this film that how Rathi Devi is the pillar of support Kathiravan needs.
The scene when the heroes friends from the military join in an operation to trap the criminals is exciting. The backstory of the hero helps in driving the entire screenplay.
Yuvan Shankar Raja’s background score is a perfect fit for this film with great camera work by George C Willams. The background music by Yuvan Shankar Raja is perfectly in sync with the digital theme though the songs have a familiar ring to them. Cinematography, editing and the art direction are top notch. P.S. Mithran has made a strong debut with a subject that will connect to many though the screenplay is not all that racy.