Theeyor Koodam Movie Review:
The most fascinating thing about a time-bound film is that you don't know much about them except for the particular day and scenario presented in the film. The character shown as a nobody could be anyone, and the opportunities for that person to pull a rabbit out of their hat are limitless. Director Sakthivel's Theeyor Koodam unfolds a drama with a bunch of such characters, of whom very little is known. The narrative, for the film's almost two-hour runtime, offers some decent, if not extraordinary, twists that work.
Theeyor Koodam begins with a food delivery executive, Ramesh (Danny), who gets trapped in a house with a bunch of strangers, along with a Robin Hood-like robber played by Sakshi Agarwal, who needs a lot of money to sustain her orphanage. In a turn of events, the robber and Ramesh strike a deal to share the spoils among them before something strange happens.
Theeyor Koodam wastes no time in unpacking the premise and introducing us to the characters. The screenplay reveals the characters' reality and their intentions, helped by a couple of good twists in the first half. The characters' unpredictable behaviour overshadows the lack of character nuance. Essentially a story about an unassuming person getting caught in the crosshairs between two dangerous people or groups, the film should have placed its focus on how the threat increases after neutralising one antagonist and making way for another. Instead, every threat that Ramesh and Sakshi's characters face is effortlessly pushed away.
Cast: Sakshi Agarwal, Danny, Vaiyapuri, Java Sundaresan
Director: Sakthivel
Vaiyapuri's Robert and Java Sundaresan's Don are unintentionally funny. It isn't that this humour does any harm to the film. However, having seen both actors engage in mock fights with slapstick energy in many films where they play the comic relief, seeing them seriously confronting each other saying 'Yaar Aaluda Nee' and 'Andha Panatha Enga Vechruka' are side-splitting. It was welcome on the makers' part to let the actors be themselves, as pushing further to make them serious characters would have backfired. Java Sundaresan, as the don, shifts from seriousness to playfulness, though he shows his helplessness in shedding his comic image. Danny and Sakshi's characteristics are basic and one-note, but they have done a neat job. Why Sakshi's one-note characterisation looked incomplete is because she is introduced as someone who fights for her orphanage, but her pursuit of money makes her look selfish and uncaring. These spaces required more work as there is no suggestion till the climax that she is capable of expressing empathy.
Although the twists in the film mostly work, in the second half it feels like the film has exhausted all its twist devices in the first half. Also, almost every twist reveal happens accidentally. Theeyor Koodam, essentially, operates mostly on one twist after another, but towards the end it takes itself too seriously and fails to recognise what the actual twist is and what isn't. Instead, the big 'aha' twist turns out to be something that could be spotted a mile away, and it was expected from the 20th minute of the film. With a crisp runtime, a couple of good twists, and unintentional rib-tickling humour, Theeyor Koodam is still fun, and sometimes, that's more than what we can ask for.