Thalapathy is the G.O.A.T. is ultimate in fandom

- ADVERTISEMENT -

He is set to quit films and join politics. And in his second-last film, Thalapathy (meaning “Commander”) is the G.O.A.T. (which means “Greatest of all time” for the uninitiated), Vijay goes the whole goat…Oops! Sorry!…I mean, hog, in catering to his fans. The full-on Tamil masala entertainer (which I watched in its Hindi version, of course) is actually a critic-proof movie.

One of his two roles is wicked and it’s the standard template of a father-versus-son story. The climax suggests a sequel based on science. So will that be his last film? Time will tell.

Gandhi (Vijay) and his associates from the Special Anti-Terrorism Squad (SATS) affiliated to RAW, India’s intelligence agency, attack a speeding train in Kenya in 2008 in which Rajiv Menon, an officer who has turned traitor, is taking uranium illegally to a seller. In the ensuing fracas, the uranium is recovered, the train explodes (no one talks about normal passengers in it!!!) and Menon and his cohorts eliminated.

Gandhi and his three associates, Kalyan (Prabhudheva), Prashanth (Sunil) and Ajay (Ajmal Ameer) are a tight clique and have told their families that they work for the Indian Tourism Development Corporation. Gandhi’s wife, Anu (Sneha Prasanna) is pregnant but because of his mysterious lifestyle, she suspects him of infidelity. Finally, Gandhi is forced to reveal who he actually is. Anu is shocked and incredulous. To assuage her, Gandhi decides to let her accompany him (with their five-year-old son Jeevan) to Bangkok, when the four SATS members head there for a mission.

But Gandhi and fmily are attacked and in the chase that follows, Anu gets delivery pains and has to be admitted into a local hospital. Jeevan (S.J. Akhilan) is kidnapped when Gandhi leaves him alone for a short while to complete the admission formalities, and later, a charred body is found that seems like Jeevan because of a toy Spiderman that Gandhi had given him.

Devastated, Gandhi breaks the news to his wife, who has just delivered a daughter. She separates from him and takes the newborn daughter with her. A shattered Gandhi then quits his job, and works as an immigration officer. In 2024, he is summoned by his ex-boss, Nazeer (Jayaram) to train officers at the newly-opened (!!) Indian Embassy in Moscow.  Surprisingly, the embassy is attacked, and though Gandhi fights the attackers, he notices a young man among them who looks just like him.

It turns out that it is Jeevan himself, and Gandhi brings him home and the family is reunited happily, for their daughter Jeevitha (Abhyukta Manikandan) has also grown up. However, shortly after that, Nazeer is murdered in front of Gandhi’s eyes by a masked young man and more murders follow. Jeevan has now discovered romance with his childhood sweetheart of sorts, Srinidhi (Meenakshi Chaudhary), who is Sunil’s daughter.

And then come more twists upon twists, with the last twist concerning Jeevan, for Gandhi has now discovered that the new villain is his son. Coincidences also adorn the script, but the idea is to just enjoy the proceedings, no questions asked!

Director Venkat Prabhu and his writers, as said earlier, offer nothing but an unalloyed rollercoaster of songs, dances and action. The cinematography by Siddharth Nuni is awesome and the scale of production magnificent. The makeshift Hindi lyrics (Riya Mukherjee) do not leave an impact, and nor does Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music, but his BGM, though stereotypical, is serviceable.

Vijay plays to the gallery as intended, and whether as Gandhi or Jeevan, he is what his fans crave for. He does extraordinary work when he breaks down on seeing his son’s charred remains and also when he breaks the news to his wife, who has just delivered.

The rest of the cast really do not have much scope, but I liked Prasanth as Sunil, Sneha Prasanna as Anu and Jayaram as Nazeer. Yogi Babu as Diamond Babu is alright. Prabhudheva as Kalyan is impressive.

The film (183 minutes-plus!) could have been a lot shorter, which would have made for greater impact. Though excellent fodder for Vijay’s multitude of fans, it will have a good box-office run, but it would have then even got a star more. For at one level, you can enjoy all the illogical tropes the director dishes out.

Rating: **1/2

AGS Entertainment’s Thalapathy is the G.O.A.T.  Produced by: Kalpathi S. Aghoram, Kalpathi S. Ganesh & Kalpathi S. Suresh  Directed by:Venkat Prabhu Written by: Venkat Prabhu, K. Chandru, Ezhilarasu Gunasekaran, Riya Mukherjee (Hindi dialogues) Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja  Starring: Vijay, Sneha Prasanna, Prabhudheva, Sunil, Ajmal Ameer, Jayaram, Mohan, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Yogi Babu, S.J. Akhilan, Abhyukta Manikandan Sp. App.: Sivakarthikeyan & Trisha Krishnan