Thalaivan (2014)

If only Ramesh Selvan had found a better leading man, it would have become a fairly engaging cops-and-terrorist action film. But then, the film isn't titled just Thalaivan; it is Bas In Thalaivan and so we are forced to endure this vanity stab of a debutant with a prominent cheek and jowl, perpetual blood-shot eyes and a beer belly. All these physical disadvantages could have been brushed aside if there was some bit of acting but all we get is a single expression for all the scenes, be it a romantic one or an emotional moment or even a lighthearted scene. To be fair, even the heroine is impassive; as for her lip sync, she could very well be speaking Latin!

If you can force yourself to ignore its leads, the film turns from being borderline terrible to a borderline watchable fare. The plot revolves around a terrorist, Daniel, who is one of the masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. His one-time mentor and rival Anwar Khan, who he fails to kill during a coup, strikes a deal with the cops and soon, Danny's men are being 'encountered'. Even as the DGP Sundarapandian boasts about making the city crime-free, there comes a mysterious challenger — the titular Thalaivan — who commits crimes under the cops' noses. Who is this man and what is his end goal?

This is a fairly interesting storyline for commercial film and Ramesh Selvan does know what he needs to keep it moving. There are turncoats, an ingenious plan (to capture Thalaivan), a couple of pleasant cameos (from Kota Srinivasa Rao and Power Star Srinivasan), a passable flashback episode featuring the dependable Jayaprakash and a moderately funny Santhanam comedy track. But the plot points are telegraphed to us a mile earlier so there is no tension in the scenes. So, when we see Bas hesitating to talk about his parents, we sense that we will get a tragic flashback. And when a couple of cops get suspended, we guess that they are corrupt ones, and not surprisingly, we get a scene of them scheming with Danny. This only makes the execution feel lazy and uninspired.