Review: Thiruttu Payale 2 impresses!

Film: Thiruttu Payale 2
Director: Susi Ganesan
Cast: Bobby Simhaa, Prasanna, Amala Paul and others
Music: Vidhya Sagar
Cinematography: Chelladurai

Director Susi Ganesan, who was missing in action for a while in the Tamil film industry, has made a strong comeback with a winner called Thiruttu Payale 2.

Susi seems to have gone back to the basics after suffering reverses in Kanthaswamy and that seems to have paid him rich dividends. In fact, Thiruttu Payale is so good that it even outscores the first part in terms of story value and performances. If all goes well, he may even reclaim his rightful position in the list of directors who can make quality cinema with gifted professionals.

Getting to the story, Selvam (Bobby Simha) is a sincere officer with the Intelligence department of the Tamil Nadu Police. He is someone who seeks to be honest but is ridiculed time and again by everybody else in the department, who refuse to believe him for what he is. There is nobody who can be honest in this department, they say. Eventually, he chooses to turn into what a senior officer calls, ‘an honestly corrupt’ police officer.

One day, Selvam is entrusted with the task of tapping into people’s phones and overhearing their conversations by his superior officer (Muthuraman). Initially, it is for the sake of security that such a task is undertaken. But soon, his superior officer, who is looking to become the DGP, asks him to start monitoring the numbers of two other senior police officers, who are also considered suitable candidates for the position of the DGP.

Selvam does as he is told. But it emboldens him into listening to conversations of even those who are not on the suspects’ list. He begins to learn about all the dirty dark secrets of individuals, including those in positions of power. He gets to know trade secrets, illegal business deals, bribes being paid and received, and illegal affairs that the wives of prominent people have.

Soon, he realises that knowledge is power and using innovative criminal ideas, starts making money silently. To keep his department in the dark, he stashes his ill-gotten wealth in the care of Jaswanth (Pradeep K Vijayan), a businessman known for such activities.

Life is peaceful for Selvam as he has a loving wife Agal Vilakku(Amala Paul) at home and a fulfilling job that is helping him make all the money that he wants. However, one day, all that changes. And that changes because he happens to overhear a telephonic conversation between his wife and a stranger called Bala Krishnan (Prasanna)…

Susi Ganesan’s dialogues are the result of his careful observation of several real life situations and this comes across very clearly in the film. Therefore, they strike a chord with the audiences immediately. To his credit, he manages to retain their attention right from the start of the film to its finish, carefully introducing twists everywhere in the plot where people tend to think that they know what’s bound to happen next.

Susi Ganesan’s script gets life breathed into it, thanks to three powerful performances, one each coming from Prasanna, Bobby Simha and Amala Paul. All three artistes have delivered near perfect performances that take the film to another level altogether.

Prasanna as the playboy Balakrishnan is just brilliant. He has always had immense potential as an actor and he proves it yet again in this film. Refined yet evil, classy yet crass, smart yet sinful, the character of Balakrishnan is a difficult one to portray but Prasanna just plays it with ease as if it is child’s play. The man has also developed a wonderful physique which makes him the most perfect choice for this hugely demanding role.

Bobby Simha is equally impressive as Selvam. Having to switch his character’s shades from being a suspecting spouse at times to a caring husband who is desperate to protect his wife from a demanding intruder, from being a fearless powerful cop at times to a victim who is at the mercy of a tech savvy criminal who has access to all his dirty secrets, Bobby has a daunting task. But then, the National Award winner brings out beautifully, each shade of his character with elegance.

Amala Paul as Agal too does a neat job of her role. The film has some mesmerising and scintillating numbers from Vidhyasagar, a genius when it comes to scoring melodies. He too makes a strong comeback with this film. Chelladurai’s camera work deserves a round of applause as well.

On the whole, Thiruttu Payale2 scores and scores huge!