Thalapathi

This sets the relationship between Karan and Duryodhana in modern times, in criminal setting and tries to answer the age old question, "Why was a supposedly good person like Karan adamant on his friendship with Duryodhana? What bonded the two for life?"

Maniratnam's story, screenplay, dialogues and direction are meant to make you invest in and care for the protagonists, to pray for them, to be fascinated by them and also to be repelled by their actions and intrigued by their motivations. And he succeeds spectacularly. The drama is of the highest notch, with many a scene guaranteed to make you reach out for your nearest handkerchief or shoulder.

The action sequences are particularly intense, with no background score, the only sounds being of fists crashing against different body parts. I haven't experienced such visceral thrills in a long time.

Illyaraaja's music and the background score are beautiful. I had to look at the subtitles to understand the words and hence, I was a bit behind the curve on occasion. But, the music has been masterfully created to make you feel pathos and pathos you feel, upon hearing it. However, one of the few grouses with the movie that I had was the frequent song and dance sequences. I understand that this was a commercial potboiler, but, these broke the tension created by the proceedings. And the songs were longer than 5 minutes on most occasions.

The acting is, almost surreally, exceptional.

Like Kamal Haasan after him, the Hindi movie writers have tried to "Bollywoodize" Mr. Kanth rather than letting him be. Those who get surprised by the frenzy and emotions that surround his every release should watch him in this. They would come away enlightened.

I have seen only bits and pieces of Rajnikanth's acting prowess, in roles that were under cooked, such as those in "Hum" and "Andha Kanoon". The intensity of his performance, here, is like a physical thing, which crashed into me and left a mark on my psyche. It is breathtaking and barely believable. It must be easily one of his finest acts. This is all the more appreciable as there was ample opportunity for hamming it up. But, you only have to stare into the depth of his eyes to believe in the credibility of his threat.

Mamooty is excellent as the benevolent don. However, Rajnikanth is in such exquisite form, that he outshines Mamooty in almost all the scenes that they have together. Srividya shines in the role of Kunti. Arvind Swamy doesn't have much to do, in terms of acting. Amrish Puri is wasted. The film would not have been poorer, if his role had been completely edited out. The origin or the reason for his animosity with Mamooty is never revealed and that takes away some of the sheen of believability from his actions.

The editing could have tighter. Also, there were perhaps too many coincidences that served to drive the story forward. I didn't find a fault in them, as they helped to ratchet up the tension and the drama. But, perhaps, this could have been minimized.

Also, the production house / Amazon Prime Videos would do well to upload a better copy of the movie. The video often became pixellated, which wasn't expected. There are many scenes wherein the background score is missing. Thankfully, none of the dialogues have been affected.

This film is about 15 years old. i watched it quite a few times and it never fails to impress me. As said earlier it is a modern version of the Mahabharata, with Rajni as Karna.

Its starts with a 14 year old mother forced to abandon her son and the son grows up in the city slums far away..he befriends a underworld don and swears loyalty to death for him Meanwhile the mother gets married and has a son who becomes a top government official. Nobody knows of her earlier son except for her husband. Thing come to head as her younger son is posted to where the elder(who the mother doesn't know is her son) is dominating.

Watch the movie to see what happens. The mother-son scenes are amazingly touching

Thalapathi (1991) : Brief Review -

The Most Emotionally blended Family Friendly Crime Drama of 90s. One of the most popular genre in Hollywood Crime Drama didn't get much exploration in Indian Cinema till 80s. Then several crime dramas in masala genre gave hope but ultimately weakened the support of family audience. In early 90s Mani Ratnam brought Thalapathi set in crime world but differently i mean it's affectionate. It's all for people not for just for personal benefits of gangsters so it was meant to create more attraction to the family audience. At the end it becomes a Family drama yet not done with it's crime World to fulfill the hunger of watching a perfect Blockbuster. This was first and may be last time in Indian Cinema that a crime film became an emotional family drama and is likely to remain the one of it's own kind. Rajnikant and Mammootty's brotherhood mania is terrific. Both of them were really acting and not just entertaining and then another great actor Arvind Swamy was joined in a supporting role. Even the female side is filled with rich quality performances of Shobhana, Srividya and Bhanupriya. Overall, the acting department of Thalapathi is far better than any other crime drama i have seen till date. Mani Ratnam is a genius, he knows how to connect a negative film with audience positively and so he makes those negative characters more positive than born positive characters in the film. Many people consider this film as reference to Mahabharata characters which is not totally acceptable. The film is very well set in it's own crime Universe then I don't think there is any need to link it with an epic. Thalapathi should remain the only crime film having emotional intelligence and Blockbuster Family Drama elements for some time more.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest

A fight between two brothers (Rajnikanth and Arvindswamy) is a classy version on Modern Mahabbaratha, is truly unique. Maniratnam has adapted the screenplay to the modern version and it's really awesome. Mammootty as Rajnikanth's friend Deva is amazing. Music and cinematography by Illayaraja and Santosh Sivan (The terrorist) commend each other. For me it's the best gangster movie made in India. Just loved the movie from beginning till end.

Modern friendship of karna & Duryodhana . Good movie, music & cinematography is excellent

Plot : A fourteen-year-old Kalyani gives birth to a boy alone and, fearing societal backlash and incapacity, abandons him inside a moving goods train. A slum dweller finds the baby, takes him home, names him Surya and raises him. Surya grows up to be intolerant of injustice, especially to the poor, and wonders why his biological mother abandoned him. The only item from his mother is the yellow shawl in which she had placed him. Devaraj, a powerful gangster, who is kind but feared by most, fights injustice with violence. Surya attacks and kills Ramana, an auxiliary of Devaraj. Surya is arrested for murder and faces brutal torture from police, but Devaraj bails him out after perceiving Ramana's felony and realises Surya's cause was genuine. Surya and Devaraj, who share an ideology, come to understand each other. Devaraj declares Surya as his Thalapathi (commander) and best friend.