Madurai is the toast of Tamil cinema and almost a majority of movies set around the town has managed to leave an impact at the box office, besides winning critical acclaims. Joining the list is ‘Thoonga Nagaram’, one of the most commonly referred name for Madurai meaning the city never sleeps.
Directed by debutant Gaurav and produced by Dhayanidhi Alagiri for Cloud Nine Movies, the film unfolds in the temple town and it’s woven around friendship, love, emotions and revenge.
Three cheers to Gaurav for making a taut screenplay that is engrossing from scene one. He would have been easily tempted to go the gory way like in any other film set in the town. But he has carefully avoided violence in this otherwise action-packed flick. A team of youngsters have come together to ensure the movie is bubbly and breezy all through.
’Kalavani’ fame Vimal, ‘Nadodigal’ Bharani, Gaurav, ‘Renigunta’ fame Nishanth and Anjali play pivotal roles in the movie. Their life, struggle, survival and emotions makes
up the movie. The director has ensured that these characters reflect reality and etched them out well.
If the first half is breezy and entertaining and speaks about friendship, it slowly takes turn towards the latter part which is filled with suspense and thrilling moments. The Madurai Tamil and new faces that resemble people from the heartland of Madurai add credibility to the script.
A group of four friends (Vimal, Barani, Nishanth and Gaurav) live lives in their own way in Madurai. They are callous youth, who go hammer and tongs to make both ends meet. Vimal, a wedding videographer comes across his childhood friend Anjali, who is a compere in a local cable TV channel and love blossoms.
However, one event changes the course of their life. Vimal bashes a youth for taking obscene video clippings of a girl and blackmailing her with ulterior motive. The youth’s father (Kamala theatre owner Chidambaram) finds out the men behind the attack on his son.
He hatches a conspiracy and ensures that the friends themselves turn foes for each other. In the meantime, it’s time for Vimal to tie the knot with Anjali. Did the baddie succeed in his mission is the crux of the story.
Vimal continues from where he left in ‘Kalavani’. He is impressive playing a fun-loving youth in first half. In the second half, he gets serious and has taken the role in his stride to play it well with consummate ease.
Anjali seems to be maturing as an actress in every movie of hers. She is cool, simple and suave in her porrayal. Barani does his part well, while Nishanth and Gaurav excel in their respective roles.
The surprise element in the pack is Chidambaram. He reminds one of Umapathy of ‘Agni Natchathiram’. He is soft but oozes menace in his eyes.
Sundar C Babu’s music is foot-tapping and a song on Madurai which has Vadivelu making a cameo is peppy and racy. Vijay Ulaganathan's camera work deserves special mention . He captures Madurai in a different colour while Suresh’s editing is crisp.
On the whole, ‘Thoonga Nagaram’ is racy, riveting and entertaining too, but for some déjà vu feel. Three cheers to Dhayanidhi Alagiri and his team.
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