Thottal Thodarum (2015)

Writer and blogger Cable Sankar's debut is a film a young woman who plays with fire out of desperation and just about manages to end up unharmed with some help from her boyfriend. After an initial misunderstanding, Madhu ( Arundhathi) and Shiva (Taman) fall in love. When Madhu's stepbrother is fatally injured in an accident, and needs a huge sum of money for the operation, in a fit of desperation, she switches her photograph with that of a reporter who is to be killed by an assassin. Her hope is that her family can use the insurance money to save her stepbrother. However, by the time she realizes her folly, the assassin paid to kill the reporter is after Madhu and won't stop till she is dead. If there is one thing that Cable Sankar has to be appreciated for, it is for attempting a film that is centred around the heroine. This is a plot that could have easily been made with the hero as the central figure (guy gets into a problem and overcomes it) but he lets the actions of the heroine drive the plot forward. Madhu is the one who initiates contact with Shiva. It is she who is partly to blame for Arjun's condition. And, it is she who takes the decision to test fate. But the film fails to make good on its promise, despite the interesting set-up, mainly because of a tired, overlong romantic track with too many songs and dull conversations that just sap the energy out of it. Some of the scenes have a serial-like quality (we even get a coldhearted stepmother), there is an unsuccessful attempt at humour ( Balaji, who plays the hero's sidekick, is as grating as nails on chalkboard) and the film takes a lot of time to get to the plot. There is a parallel track to this love story where a minister's murder (which opens the film) is cleverly passed off as an accident and a cop investigating it unofficially. We are told about exciting stuff like orchestrated accident networks, chases on highways, and ingenious GPS devices. But the second half is largely a muddled thriller. The silent assassin is an archetype that can strike fear but here, he ( Vincent Asokan) is unintentionally hilarious. He just keeps chasing the heroine but in one sequence when she is so close at hand (and the hero far away to be of any help) he just limps away! In another scene, Madhu just about escapes after a chase and minutes later, we see her and Shiva getting all romantic in a hotel! Shiva's plan of letting Madhu be a bait to catch the assassin might have seemed credible on paper but from the way it unfolds on screen, it appears half-baked. Then there are the narrative conveniences — Madhu's insurance amount is Rs 30 lakh and that is exactly the amount her stepbrother needs for his operation; she just happens to have her photo with her to switch the photos; the reporter turns up out of the blue to save her when she is about to be mowed down; the person who ordered the hit on the minister is the same one who wanted the reporter dead and so on. For a movie about murders committed as accidents, this one has too many things happening by accident!