Theerkadarishi Movie Review: Reckless screenplay meets shoddy staging 

Directors PG Mohan and LR Sundrapandi's Theerkadarishi is one of the unlikeliest films one would come across. It traces the journey of an upright, family-bound Police control room head, an ambitious friends-turned-fellow-policemen duo, a strong-willed deputy commissioner, a multitalented electrician, a selfless psychologist, a random, good-willed hairdresser, an emotionally-wounded father, an anti-casteist lover...  all at once! In case you're wondering whether the film has a hyperlink narrative, where the baton is passed from one character to another, you are in for major disappointment, as Theerkadarisi is more of a messy marathon, where you hardly spot a character to root for. Probably in an attempt to make the film an overarching police procedural without the hero-heroine-villain formula, the screenplay oscillates from one character to another recklessly. This writing choice feels even more awful as the film is very much a suspense thriller at its core. 

Director: PG Mohan – LR Sundarapandi
Cast:  Ajmal Amir, Dhusshyanth, Jaiwanth, Sreeman, Devadarshini and Sathyaraj

A series of phone calls from an anonymous caller sets the police control room and eventually, the state's police department at unrest as he predicts crimes and drops hints to stop them based on his alleged erratic visions. Every prediction of his turns out to be true and the police start suspecting the caller to be the mastermind orchestrating everything. A long-delayed climax with a reveal we saw coming miles ahead announces the identity and backstory of the titular anonymous caller. 

Though the story of Theerkadarishi sounds like a mishmash of a lot of thrillers from the recent past, it has the substance to hold our attention, at least on paper. But, it is the staging where the film miserably fails. Shoddy contributions from the cinematography, music and editing departments combined with the rudderless screenplay make Theerkadarishi a hard experience to sit through. 

The performances aren't helping either. Despite having proven performers like Devadardarshini, Ajmal and Sriman in the cast, the directors only manage to reduce them to uni-dimensional caricatures. Sathyaraj, who was featured as one of the main lead in the posters and promos, only makes a brief cameo appearance. But it is his five-minute-something presence that ends up as the brightest part of Theerkadharishi. Only if the film was as lively and engaging as his portions, it could have easily recreated the nostalgia of his 2002 film Maaran. Alas.

Though the directors hold back the entry of Sathyaraj till the very end, only sticking to the usage of his voice, they choose to tease the appearance of another intresting person: MK Stalin! The film has a lookalike playing the Chief Minister, aping his signature modulation and gestures. During a crucial moment, where this character has to make a decision over a life-or-death matter, he buys the words of the anonynmous caller and goes,"Theerkadharishi eh sollitara? Apo senjida vendiyadhu dhaan!" I burst into laughter. I guess I will remember Theerkadarishi for long, thanks to this wacky scene and the mammoth conviction of its creators.