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Tanakkaran Review : A Riveting And Authentic Depiction Of The Police System..
- In a scene that appears midway into Police training , a veteran cop points to a policeman standing guard near a tree and narrates the reason why he is doing so. We realize how what had started out as something set up for a specific task had simply become tradition even though the purpose for which it was established was long done because the force wants unquestioning obedience over questions. It's a scene that nicely ties in with the film's prologue about how and why the British set up our police force and how many of the protocols that they had then set up mainly to prevent Indian recruits from thinking about the Indian freedom struggle still continue to be in existence as tradition.
- The film opens at the police training academy where Arivu (Vikram Prabhu) who holds a master degree in criminology is a candidate. Surprisingly there are those who are above forty who were recruited decades ago and not instated due to political reasons and. The trainer Eswaramoorthy (Lal) has the reputation of being a ruthless man who caused the death of eighteen trainees by his brutal methods. There is also Chellaiya (M.S. Bhaskar) who is also one of the junior trainers on punishment for assaulting a senior official. The rules are spelt out to the trainees that they have to abide by what the officials say failing which they will be thrown out. Arivu questions some of the unjust behaviours which put him at direct confrontation with Eswaramoorthy and the senior officials who support him. The powerful join hands and use the system to prevent Arivu and the other deserving candidates from becoming police officers. Whether they are able to withstand insurmountable challenges and win the game or not is what the film is all about on the surface level with more layers in the screenplay.
- Arivu is probably one of the best characters that Vikram Prabhu has got in his career and he has done full justice to the role. He has undergone the exact training that policemen do and his physical toil matches his emotional performance in all the scenes. Anjali Nair plays a constable in love with the hero and is a pleasant distraction in the otherwise intense film. M.S. Bhaskar is terrific as the wronged cop who faces humiliation at the hands of his own colleagues. After a long time Lal gets a role in Tamil that not only suits him to the T but also gives him enough material to parade as cruelty personified. Bose Venkat as the honest officer, Madhusudhan Rao as the corrupt one, Cable Sankar as Murugan and Pavel Navageethan as the hero's friend all give memorable performances due to the strong characterizations. The actor who plays Chithappa moves the audience with his excellent performance.
