Myskkin, when announced that he roped in Vishal for his next movie, my first thought was that; Let this not be a disaster like Mugamoodi. Myskkin the man who always builds a strong story and screenplay then chooses his actors around it. Most of his leads were either new faces or the lesser knowns. With Thupparivalan he broke few stereotypes about him and the major one being that a commercial movie not necessarily should have songs or an item number for that matter. What’s there in the movie for us? Let’s see:

Who is this Thupparivalan?

Kaniyanpoongundran is a Private detective whose back story which we are not aware of. In the first few scenes into the movie, he shows us How good an observer he is?  Mano lacks the speed of his best friend in catching up with all the case. Mano is basically a Dr. Watson for Kaniyan in this movie.

Kaniyanpoongundran reminds me of BBC’s Sherlock but with a little of empathy in him (A Myskkin’s Touch). In the recent times, the Sherlock character has become a household name and it is hard for us not to compare. That being said Vishal as the character irritates in the beginning. He who has established himself as a mass hero in various movies but this one is slightly different and as the movie flows we see Kaniyan more and Vishal disappears. Altogether it is more of a Tamil version of Sherlock Holmes with emotions 😛

Why I liked the Movie?

In the first few scenes of act one, we encounter series of murders and when we expect our hero would directly land up, in that case, we are given a Myskkin twist. Introduction scene of Kaniyan is not a Myskkin’s style nor Vishal’s, it’s new and we are made to see the lead in his eyes with the body camera.

When a kid meets with a Puppy missing case to Kaniyan, some regular commercial movie goers would expect the movie to take pace at this point but we are left with questions and the movie takes a different direction. That Anu Emmanual intro scene was interesting but why is that in this particular year we see so much of movies on abusive relationships -_- or is it even a relationship?

I loved the stunt sequences and my favourite was the one in the Chinese restaurant. Though the stunts were fast and not Myskkin types one could clearly see a pattern there. Vishal doesn’t seem awkward but he scores very well in his turf. Mano (Prasanna) a loyal friend (Or a Sidekick? 🤔) of Kaniyan has done a decent job. Vinay as The Devil has done a fair job though the dialogues were very less for him still a decent one. Andrea’s part should be a surprise revelation for many and unexpected too.

When a movie like this with no songs always gives more scope for the Music director to focus on BGM. Arrol Corelli’s music adds rhythm and pace to the movie. The cinematographer Karthik Venkatraman has done a phenomenal job with adding bright tone to the movie with some majestic angles.

Myskkin – The captain of this ship has done an exceptional job. He really tried to not use his style but in few scenes, his technique is very much visible. No creepy dark light throughout the movie, no low angle slow motion shots still he is all over the movie and that’s who he is. The way he paid homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was beautiful in the movie.

What could have been better?

With the ensemble cast like this, their roles were not memorable. Let it be Simran or Bhagyaraj or even Andrea for that matter. The scope for their roles was meagre. When I saw Bhagyaraj, I was expecting he would play a memorable role as Pandiyarajan in Anjathey or Radharavi in Pisasu but his character lacked depth and he could have had a better and interesting backstory.

Andrea was just there in the movie. She got a decent role and no denying that but her part was not even memorable. When Vinay’s backstory was revealed it should have been a surprise or at least sad but here the revelation just pass-by and feels dry.

There were few scenes where the Music needn’t be placed at all but some silence would have done justice, this is the only issue I had but nothing else.

My Verdict:

A Myskkin movie without his trademark cliches. One who knows Mysskin and his way of handling story would definitely love this movie but I couldn’t quote this movie as his best. Hoping to see a sequel to this movie which will definitely work if you ask me. Do watch it and I bet you will definitely enjoy the movie.