TAANAKKARAN (2022)
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| Critic No. 276 |
Director: Tamizh
Written by: Tamizh
Produced by: Potential Studios
Casts: Vikram Prabhu, Lal, M.S.Bhaskar, Anjali S Nair, Bose Venkat
Music: Ghibran
Language: Tamil
Genre: Drama
SYNOPSIS:
Spurred by his dark part, Arivu (Vikram Prabhu) wants to become a police officer. However, his training instructor Moorthy (Lal) may become a hurdle and shatter his dreams.
REVIEW:
There have been many films in Indian cinema that focused on police brutalities to the public based on factual stories. However, policeman turned filmmaker/actor, Tamizh has made his debut with a film that focuses more on the internal conflicts in the recruitment stage that contributes to the corrupted system. And will Vikram Prabhu who has been in the industry for 10 years without a steady graph of success, manage to flip things with ‘Taanakkaran’?
Set in 1999, the film starts with Arivu who just got selected in the Tamil Nadu Police being sent to the PRS (Police Recruit School) for training. The PRS is run by Inspector Muthupandi, a stern but corrupt officer, who is feared by all. One of his aides is Easwara moorthy, a very strict and ruthless trainer, who has a record of winning all the parades and even resulting in the death of a few trainees in the name of very hard training (ED). On the very first day of training, one of Arivu's friend from the '82 batch faces the warth of Muthupandi, after he complains about the lack of toilet facilities in the campus. Soon Easwara Moorthy starts seeing Arivu as a rival and warns him that he will not allow him to pass the training. How Arivu manages to win against all these odds forms the rest of the story.
The tale is definitely refreshing to see the internal conflicts in the system and how casteism has a peek in that issue as well. What I really liked about the film is the character design of the protagonist, Arivu. Unlike typical cop films where heroism is force fitted, in Taanakkaran, Tamizh has made Arivu’s heroism show through his perseverance. There are no screaming punchlines, just silent resilience. We also get a solid flashback that explains his motivation to endure. The film’s conflict is very well set up as well revolving around the face of the system that hates being questioned versus the one who questions.
Another issue that I found quite refreshing is the backstory of how a few among the recruits are older Policemen, who cleared their interviews in 1982 but due to Political reasons, could not get placed till date. The sequence of how most of the trainees see them as unfit old men and mock them was staged very well with strong dialogues and emotions. The climax sequence of the marching parade competition was very well choreographed and shot that will keep the audience at the edge of their seats.
On the flipside, the film does have a few clichés like having a mandatory romantic track with Anjali and a song (though sounds good) that comes out from nowhere. For such a focused film, this was really a spoiler for me. Though the director teases us to end the film with an anti climax which might have rooted the rawness he was going for, it was quite a turn when he resorts to pleasing the audience eventually. The layers of conflict could have been more accelerating in the later part of the film than just limiting it to physical abuse factor.
That said, Vikram Prabhu, Lal and MS Bhakar’s performances keep the film a float and engages us thoroughly into the recruit’s world. Ghibran’s score is another added strength to the film as he accentuates the emotional spine of the film at many places.
Taanakkaran is no doubt a fine show by debutant Tamizh and I really hope that he does more films based on some refreshing incidents that had seen during his stint as a police officer. And for Vikram Prabhu, hope he capitalizes on this much waited turn of winning streak.
VERDICT:
Policeman turned filmmaker Tamizh, crafts a heartwarming drama about the injustice revolving around police recruitment that explores the fundamental root of the biases and the never ending problems of casteism in India.
CELLULOID METER- 3.25/5:
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