THIRUTTU PAYALE 2 (2017)

Critic - No.137

Director: Susi Ganesan
Casts: Bobby Simha, Prasanna, Amala Paul
Music: Vidyasagar.
Language: Tamil
Genre: Drama / Thriller 

PLOT:
Police inspector Selvam (Bobby Simha) tries to nab Balki (Prasanna), an IT expert who traps innocent women on Facebook.

REVIEW:
Through ‘Thiruttu Payale (2006)’, director Susi Ganasan gave a sleeper hit that made him climb the league of important director in Tamil Cinema. However, after the failure of the highly anticipated film, ‘Kanathasamy (2009)’, Susi Ganesan had a brief hiatus in Kollywood. Riding on his best film’s concept, he is back with ‘Thiruttu Payale 2’ that banks heavily on the current privacy invasion in social media and cyber crime that are rooted from the rapid technological advancement in the recent decade. 

The main fear the film attempts to put out is that no one life is private anymore in this world surrounded by modern technology. If the predecessor dealt with a slum boy blackmailing a rich woman to leak her extra marital relationship, this film shows how the growing social media dependency and audio leaks have made us vulnerable to cyber stalking and bullying. To a certain extent, the film maker has effectively projected that message quite clearly. The director’s imagination to use technology to create interesting twist and turns is noteworthy.

The film’s universe is small revolving around three primary characters, Selvam, his wife Agal and the dangerous stalker Balki. Selvam (which means prosperity) calls himself ‘honest corrupt’ who indirectly gets bribed by a businessman and spies on corrupted politicians, extorting money from them. On the other end Agal’s character who is obsessed with social media and loves engaging her followers, projects the modern society. Balki at the other end is a IT expert who uses the modern technology to stalk and bully vulnerable people who fall prey to his antics. Each of their characters are flawed and that makes their brawl more interesting. The scene where three of them interact to keep each other’s secrets is the peak of tension and shows the writing prowess of the seasoned director. 

Even though the non-linear narration is quite creatively used to increase the thrill, it progressively becomes messy after a brilliant first half. The cat and mouse game between Bobby Simha and Prasanna becomes a little too draggy with repeated confrontations. The film picks up at the climax and the film maker reemphasizes his point about the vicious cycle of corruption. However, Susi Ganesan’s role as the detective follows both of them is a little contrived and doesn’t make any impact. 

Looking fit and confident, Prasanna gives his career best performance. Bobby Simha does scores at some parts whereas Amala Paul is just about adequate for the underwritten role that starts off interestingly only to become too one dimensional as the film progresses. Vidyasagar's background score is okay while the song 'Nee Paakum' song sticks to your mind among the average album.

 
VERDICT: 
Despite the intriguing concept and the detailed depiction of cyber stalking, ‘Thiruttu Payale 2’ lacks the thrill and rawness its predecessor had.  

CELLULOID METER- 3/5: