Thegidi (2014)

English translation: Deception
Director: P. Ramesh
Story: P. Ramesh
Cast: Ashok Selvan, Janani Iyer 
Music: Nivas K. Prasanna, Selva Rani
Time: 116 minutes
Bottom-line: A smartly scripted detective thriller

I don’t think Thegidi had a good run at the box office here, so the film went unnoticed by me. But soon there came a time when everyone around me was saying, “Watch Thegidi – it’s awesome!” And indeed, this deceptively clever thriller film directed by P. Ramesh, starring Ashok Selvan and Janani Iyer in the lead roles, is quite impressive. What makes it so, according to me, is that it provides the typical entertainment any other normal Tamil film – that runs for about three hours – would provide, in less than two hours.

Ashok Selvan as Vetri

A criminology student and a fresh graduate, Vetri (Selvan) aspires to become a detective. His observation skills earn the admiration of his professor, who advices him to join a detective firm. He soon becomes successful in his job. However, on such a mission, he gets caught by a young woman, Madhu (Janani Iyer). Surprisingly, she turns out to be his next target assigned by the company to him. But he falls in love with her. Things start to get weird when Vetri reads the newspaper a few days later: he comes across articles which say that two of the people he investigated had died in accidents. Though not charged with anything, Vetri feels guilty because he had given practically every detail about them to his company. Are these deaths truly accidental? Or is there a much bigger scam behind all this?

I am one such person who is willing to appreciate almost any Tamil film that deviates from the normal masala type. This happens to be the main reason why Thegidi impressed me immediately. When a film provides thrills, romance, comedy and a good twist ending, all within two hours, one can say that the screen time has been used very effectively. Every scene in the film is “to the point” – it starts where it should and ends where it should. Another thing I liked about the film is the fact that the director kept the main character as a detective, instead of a cop.

Janani as Madhu

The title sequence is interesting: just like that of Catch me if You Can, the scenes during the opening credits display scenes from the film, which occur later. There are a couple of songs, but the good thing is that during the song “Vinmeen vithayil”, the whole “romance” between Vetri starts and ends, in the sense that no extra time is wasted for this purpose. And of course, the song was quite melodious as well. The story progresses at a break-neck pace, especially in the second half. The twist ending is sort of unexpected, and the climax is brilliant... similar to a Nolan film, if I may say so.

The cast is almost entirely new. This is Ashok Selvan’s third major film, so though his acting was not exactly “first-class”, he has done a decent job. Janani Iyer has performed well too. Jayaprakash, who is probably the only experienced actor, comes only in the second half, as a police inspector who helps Vetri. So though acting is the only aspect where Thegidi doesn’t come up to my expectations, in every other aspect, it is one of the best films of 2014. The script, score (in particular), songs and the climax are brilliant. Thegidi has no big stars, no lavish settings, no big-budget song or action sequences, but it provides your money’s worth of entertainment with no shortcomings.

My Rating: 4/5