Unnaipol Oruvan

Kamal Hassan's Chakri-Toleti directed Unnaipol Oruvan is new age Tamil cinema, which we can say proudly, is a must-watch. What elevates the film to a new high is the crisp presentation and outstanding performances from the lead actors, mainly Kamal and Mohanlal, who simply rock. The film is on par with the original Neeraj Pandey's A Wednesday, with minor modifications to make it politically correct by including a Hindu mercenary, a gun runner for whom it is just about money.

The dialogues written by Era Murugan are electrifying and justifies the milieu change from the terror-prone Mumbai to much calmer climes of Chennai.

Kamal Hassan and his team have also pointed to the Coimbatore bomb blast and Meenambakkam airport blast to give the film a local flavour. And to add his own secularist view point, one of the Muslim characters justifies his action and says it is all because of Modi and communal politics which led to the Best Bakery case. The film is well intended and is told in an emphatic manner very bravely.

One ordinary day, the Chennai city police commissioner Raghava Maraar (Mohanlal) receives a threatening call on his mobile from a guy (Kamal Hassan), who claims that he has placed five bombs in various parts of the city. The veracity of the caller's claim is confirmed when the cops find a bag with a RDX bomb at the Anna Salai police station.

The anonymous caller wants five hard core terrorists to be freed -- If not, he threatens blasts at various locations in Chennai where he has concealed the bombs. The chief secretary (Lakshmi) on the orders of Chief Minister has given a Maraar a free hand.

Maraar and his crack team of officers, led by a daring brooding cop Arif Khan (Ganesh Venkatram), gets ready to hand over the terrorists to the anonymous caller at an airfield. The story cannot be told further as it would be a giveaway of the stunning and well written climax, which had the entire audiences in the theatre giving a standing ovation at the end. It is a very brave and pathbreaking film, with a running time of only 110 minutes.

The film works because of its ensemble cast and the outstanding performances of Mohanlal and Kamal Hassan. Unlike in the Hindi version where Naseeruddin Shah had an edge over Anupam Kher, here the best dialogues in the film and almost equal screen time is given to Mohanlal.

Kamal's emotional outburst at the end, is heart rending and perhaps one of the finest piece of acting seen in Tamil cinema. Kamal and Mohanlal coming together is worth your ticket money. Ganesh Venkatram has a tailor-made role, and this film is going to be his big ticket to stardom.

Technically the film is picture perfect, with great background score by Sruthi Hassan, that builds the mood.

Chakri Toleti as a director cannot make a better debut as director in a film that will bring about a change in Tamil commercial cinema. Go for it and encourage good meaningful cinema.

The movie was excellent. As usual Kamal Haasan delivered a wondeful acting in the movie. Mohan Lal also done a good job in the movie. BGM was also amazing in the movie.

Chakri Toleti's Eenadu is about a common man who calls the commissioner saying he planted bombs across Hyderabad and will explode them if the police don't accept his demands. His demands are to release four terrorists. Who is this man? Why does he want these terrorists released? How does he benefit?

The movie is fast paced, with a 100 minute run time it has to be to the point. The screenplay is quite good as it keeps the viewer engaged and it stays on point without deviating. A few quips here and there and quickly narrated flashback help with this. The film is a remake of Naseerudin Shah's A Wednesday, which I have not watched.

The movies thrills and suspenses land for me as I have not seen the original. The social commentary is not so in your face and is presented well. It explores extreme terrorism and questions why we hold onto these terrorists until someone demands their release, rather than executing them. It also questions the corruption involved in the process. Putting aside my personal opinions and disagreements with execution without trial and the death penalty in general, the movie succeeds in getting its point across in a simple yet effective manner.

Kamal Hassan plays the role of a common man, whose name is never revealed, while Venkatesh plays the role of DGP Eeswar Prasad. The two have palpable chemistry and it's a joy to see some of my favorite actors just killing it on screen. Kamal plays the common man's role quite well and succeeds in getting the angst he faces across well. Venkatesh pulls off the strict cop role quite well and his interactions with the Chief of Secretary, played by Lakshmi, lead to some laughs.

Overall, a solid thriller which shows the angst of the common man as terrorists keep the world in fear.

Not all remakes can aspire to reach the heights of 'The Departed'. So they should never be attempted. Kamal has always been fond of re-interpreting successful Hindi movie works. In my opinion, Kuruthipoonal was the one that was done the best, though it didn't get full marks for subtlety. This one, however, scores high on subtlety, esp. considering both the lead performances. I was only disappointed that they did not try to re-invent the movie, but just chose to make an almost exact replica. However, for those that did not watch A Wednesday, since it was more of a multiplex success, this is a good opportunity to sample something different from the run-of-the-mill fare (though Tamil cinema of late has fewer of those than Telugu, which is still ruled by the grandiose 'seema' style of movie plotting, or the 'Bommarrillu' fare).

Unnaipoloruvan is the story of a common man.i haven't seen its Hindi version yet.but the tamil version is brilliantly paced.the story is very realistically told.the screen play is absolutely amazing.also a great acting from the two legends, Kamalhassan and Malayalam superstar MohanLal.there are quite a few emotional sequences in this film.the dialogue is really very well written.editing is very nicely done.chakri toleti has really directed the film well.this is his debut film.allover this movie is very brisk,fast paced and very realistic.In addition the background score by Shruthihassan is excellent.so i give this movie 9/10