When I watched this movie in 2003 I had no idea who Surya was and I was pretty new to Tamil cinema. This was Gautham's second movie after Minnale but I had no idea who he was either. I had no expectations at all from this movie but I ended up really enjoying it.
Surya was phenomenal in his role as an honest cop who fights to get rid of crime in the city. He gives an emotionally charged performance. He is at times restrained but does full justice to his role. There's a bit of romance thrown into it as well with Jyothika as his love interest. There isn't any silly Vadivelu comedy in it. The movie moves really fast without such comedy to slow down its pace. The villain played by Jeeva was quite menacing. The action sequences are pretty well done with Surya doing some really cool high-kicks. He's really toned up for this movie and got his hair cropped up closely to give him that Madras cop look.
The songs and picturisation of the songs were good too. The music by Harris Jayaraj was excellent as well. The background music is one of the best I have seen in an Indian movie. The cinematography and camera angles were quite slick and has this modern feel to it.
I am a big fan of Surya now. I have seen his Ghajini too which was awesome as well. The director Gautham is quite talented as well. I am watching out for his next release with the legendary Kamal Hassan. It's titled Vettiyaidu Vilaiyadu and will be releasing on April 14th, which happens to be the Tamil new year as well.
