Watched Thuppakki a couple of days ago in Singapore, Golden Mile. Cinema was half full even at 12.30pm on a weekday. The film was technically brilliant and so were the cast, especially Vijay. His screen presence was phenomenal. When ARM said in an interview he had extracted the best out of Vijay, I was sceptical but his movie has proven it. Vijay owned the role of Jagadish. The story itself is simple enough but it's the execution where this film really shines.
Kajal was OK, she was more like a heroine cum comedian and her role wasn't meaty enough unlike the roles in Ghajini and 7aam arivu. Nevertheless, she had done pretty well in comedy and song sequences. Sathyan and Jayaram also provide comic relief and they are adequate. Vidyut as the villian was excellent. His quiet, subtle performance was terrifying.
Santosh Sivan was brilliant through out, be it in a dhoby ghat or in a club. However, I felt that due to the script, he wasn't really given an opportunity to shine... unlike Raavanan. Sreekar Prasad did a fine job in the editing department. Though the length was quite long at 2hr 45mins, there wasn't a dull moment though the Vennilave song was put in abruptly and slowed down the movie a little. Last but not least, ARM. This man had an idea of a script, wrote it, made a screenplay and directed it to perfection, despite tiny flaws. Hats off to ARM. Special mention should be said about how he crafted Vijay's look in the film. Pure class with subtle mass.
Now to the negatives... The weakest link in the movie is HJ. The BGM is honestly fantastic but that's about it. Song are OK and were picturised quite nicely, especially Antartica and Google Google. The film also got a bit over the top in the climax, with a Ghilli-like sequence but it was bearable.
Overally, it's one great film. Easily both Vijay's and ARM's best to date. Going for my 2nd show tomorrow and dragging a Vijay-hater along with me. My favourite scenes in the movie would be the pre-interval sequence and Vijay's entry during the rescue mission. Goosebumps. And I am already seeing fans requesting ARM for a Thuppakki 2 in Twitter. I don't see why not but only if ARM and Santosh Sivan are part of it. HJ is expendable.
On a side note, I can see why Vijay requested for a different script from GVM. Yohan would be too similar to Thuppakki, only perhaps more James Bondish and less Sherlock Holmish. Waiting eagerly for Vijay-Vijay combination now.
