Thira

In a day and age where domestic violence and violence against women are at large and far-flung, topics like rape, assault and sex trafficking are still considered to be a taboo on screen. Agreed, its a sensitive topic to be visually presented but its high time that the mold be broken, especially in Malayalam cinema. Pardon, my knowledge regarding Malayalam movies tackling similar topics, but I found it amusing that Thira handled the genre pretty well.

Directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan, Thira tells the story of Dr. Rohini Pranab who's on a race against the clock when some of the girls she'd taken under her wing, gets abducted. Herself caught neck-deep in a conspiracy and accompanied by Naveen whose sister got abducted among the girls, the plot moves at a brisk pace from start to end.

A ravishing Shobana makes a come back in the shoes of Dr. Rohini Pranab. Shobana effortlessly plays the character which screams for an applause. From a sincere doctor, to a caring social activist and at times adorning shades of power and intimidation, Shobana does shine in her role. There was this particular scene where Rohini, amidst all the troubles she's in, returns to the hospital for a surgery. While the distinct line ain't anything new, it tremendously reminded me of a scene from Sangeeth Sivan's Nirnayam. Vineeth's sibling, Dhyan Sreenivasan, despite the initial and occasional nuances of a newcomer, stands out with a commendable débutante performance. While Deepak Parambol who played the very amiable youth communist, Manoj in Thattathin Marayath was menacing and nefarious as ever as in this one.

The visuals were all exquisitely shot and is worthy to be labeled 'grim and elegant'. While the movie had tense moments, it lost some in its second act and the chases were a little less adrenaline pumping but it served the purpose of thrilling you. Complemented by an excellent soundtrack Thira is bound to keep you on the edge of the your seat till end.

My only qualm was regarding the linguistic choice that happened throughout the movie. I take it that it was to make it accessible for a wider audience that Hindi was prominently used, but its ever too hard to digest when localites as well as other characters spoke such fluent Hindi.

Just like Vineeth's previous Thattathin Marayath, Thira doesn't break any new grounds but a Malayalam movie almost on the same page as a Hollywood thriller is something that deserves more than a clap, a standing ovation maybe? Being the first in a planned trilogy and ending in a cliffhanger, it remains to see if the sequels would pack the same punch, nonetheless Thira was an entertaining ride from start to end. I watched this just after Philips & The Monkey Pen and I am rather glad at how Malayalam movies are getting out of their banal, cozy family soap/romance couches.

What else can you expect from a great thriller like this which grips you within its every frame. Director Vineeth Srinivasan comes with a socio thriller after directing a spate of hit films (Malarvadi Arts Club/2010 and Thattathin Marayathu/ 2012), which despite few having draggy moments and extra emotional quotient, scores and successfully grips you. The film's taut screenplay by Rakesh Mantodi brilliantly builds up the suspense and makes you grip along with the beautiful cinematography by Jomon. T. John and editing by Ranjan Abraham which pumps up the suspense well and adds beautiful visual touch within every frame and the music score by Shaan Rahman compliments the film's pace beautifully. Coming to the performances, Shobhana: Take A Bow, for her classy act repeating her excellence in films like "Thalapathi" and "Mitr: My Friend", debutant Dhyan Srinivasan is another great discovery of Malayalam Cinema where he successfully delivers a great performance and Deepak Parambol and the rest are good. Srinivasan's narration, despite a bit slow pace in between, makes a brilliant cinematic roller coaster ride worth of your ticket. My rating would be: 4/ 5

Thira - Firstly I would give a HATSOFF to the producer and the director for taking such a risk to present this concept to the audience. Well come-on, Who would wants to take a risk in presenting a full-on serious thriller movie in the generation where most of the audience expect Comedy, Mass, Item Songs, Dance, Fighting etc., from a film.

Thira is a well executed thriller movie concentrating on Human Trafficking. People must know what human trafficking is and how serious is this and the entire crew presented it well in the movie. Shobana and Dhyaan acted well and Shaan's music was at its best as always. Expecting more from Vineeth in terms of Creativity in Direction and Cinematography. Hope you make the next one even more thrilling. All the best.

Thira is undoubtedly one of the better movies released in 2013.It belongs to thriller genre,not the usual suspense thrillers you see in malayalam.The story is not what we haven't heard or seen before but the treatment is quite different and interesting.Director Vineeth has improved a lot from his previous outing tattathin marayathu.This is his best work so far IMO.In this genre,Director has to work a lot to satisfy the audience.Inspite of flaws in the script,the movie has come out as a decent thriller which deals with the issue of human trafficking.

The story goes like this.Rohini is a cardiac surgeon who also runs a welfare home for women.She is dealing with the mystery behind her husband's death.Things go haywire when the girls at her welfare home is kidnapped by some people and she is on the run for bringing them back.On the other hand,Naveen is on his way to meet his sister only to witness her kidnapped right before his eyes.At some point,these two characters meet and together they set out to recover the girls.clearly the storyline bares some similarities to Taken about the kidnapping but it ends there.The movie also shows how the so called police and law enforcers shows its back to common people when there is a problem Shobana returns to the silver screen with an electrifying performance as the bold Rohini.Although she did a small role in Sagar alias jacky,it was rather unwanted.She proves again that she is one of the best heroines in malayalam.The media,which has been giving cheap publicity to those heroines whose expressions makes you just throw up seems to have forgotten about the veteran actress.The film did require an actress of her calibre and she just provide that.Dhyan gives an okay performance even though in some scenes like the one he shouts at the policeman went slightly overboard.His action scenes were good.Rest of the cast doesn't have much to do.Most of them are not familiar figures in malayalam.Despite being a malayalam movie,malayalam dialogues are few.Subtitles are provided for Hindi dialogues though.

Camera work was rather irritating at times due to the camera shakes.Soundtrack was refreshing with teerathe neelune track at the titles and Thaazhvaram song near the end.Background music was in fact a part of teerathe neelune track which worked well at parts.

Script has some flaws but direction has been able to overcome that to an extent.The first half was pretty racy and enthralling.The second half however slows down a bit even though its engaging towards the end.There are some things in store at the climax for the sequel.

Thira is not a must watch or magnificent flick.Its worth a try for those who like this genre.

The movie is a winner. You will stay riveted to the seat for the whole movie. Pretty fast paced. Nice camera work that conveyed the general mood of the movie very well. Stylized violence using good back ground score and nice camera techniques / choice of colors / settings etc.

Good launch for Dhyan Srinivasan , Vineeth's brother. Dhyan has acted pretty well -no obvious mistakes.

Story does not take you back to any other movie. It is pretty original and has quite some meat in it. Situations in the movie are pretty hard thought out especially given such a young crew of makers. Lot of work and passion has gone into making the screen play.

Direction is excellent. There is hardly a dull moment in the movie. There are a few pieces here and there that don't work but as a whole , I imagine that the direction/making must have happened with complete commitment and great synergy and teamwork. Background scores and cinematography has synergized excellently.

Shobhana has done good justice to her role which essentially is that of the protagonist closest to the film maker, the one who drives the story and who gets to know what happens next first from the playwright.

It is very easy to setup a round table and question various aspects of the movie. Questions like 'how can this happen given that?' , 'that doesn't sound feasible,does it?' On the other hand, the movie predicts a lot more good movies from this team pretty soon and also hopefully real masterful movies a few tens of years down the line.

Craft has definitely improved over 'Thattaththin marayaththu'. Vineeth has definitely learned a lot more than he knew when he made 'Thattaththin marayaththu' and he has executed much much more than his earlier flick. I really love the way the young team is forming up , much like the slightly senior young directors from the Maharajas college team led by Amal Neerad/Aashiq Abu etc.