Shakthi Thirumagan movie review: Vijay Antony leads fantastically written political thriller that gets scammed by verbose heavy second half

Shakthi Thirumagan plot:

Kittu (Vijay Antony) is a broker at secretariat. Anything to be done, a call to him and consider it done. He hustles, tricks, and sometimes even uses weaknesses of men to get things done. Ministers, PAs, policemen and who not are not swayed by his plans. But when he gets cornered by all of them at one point, the government and police come down after him, making him reveal his true intentions.

Shakthi Thirumagan review:

Watching Vijay Antony’s Shakthi Thirumagan, reminded me the multi-faceted personality’s earlier song from Salim. The first few lines go like ‘Thappellam thappae illai, Sari yellaam sariyae illai, Thappai nee sariyaai seithaal, Thappu illai thappu ilai’ (all wrongdoings are not wrong, all good deeds are not good, if you do the wrong rightly, then the wrong is not a wrong). The justification is right there, and it almost comes up with a poetic reasoning and settles the case about debate on ethics. In Shakthi Thirumagan too, Vijay Antony’s Kittu, is a man bestowed with immense power of knowledge, where he knows what strings to pull at what time, to make them move in the way he wants. He is called a broker, pimp, and what not, but alas, the who and who of the government almost have Kittu on speed dial to do their dirty laundry.

When films use cinematic liberty to pull strings and make protagonists do anything and almost everything, logic is not quoted. When heroes are bestowed with superhero qualities, fingers are not raised. But why is that when a hero, who uses his superhero brainpower, to make do questionable things to questionable people, an emotional flashback and justification required? Why cannot he be simply a man whose harsh reality has made him turn blind eye towards ethically wrong people? Or, even a man who is born to be evil?

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Shakthi Thirumagan is blessed with a terrific first half, and director Arun Prabu holds the staging, dialogues and screenplay what may be called a fantastically shot, edited, enacted piece of cinema. Vijay Antony pours in his calm demeanour into Kittu, making you easily buy him as a character who knows the tips and tricks to navigate into the convoluted, corrupted, and bureaucratic world of government. If you are a fan of Shankar’s Indian film, take that particular sequence in which the director navigates through the RTO office, and takes us through the tedious red tapism. Now, imagine a smartly written edited, engaging, performed, serious-toned first half. That is Shakthi Thirumagan for you for the better half of the film.

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However, it is the revelation and the second half, when the film derails and succumbs to emotional penchant and melodrama milking. There is excessive verbose doing the labour and Shakthi Thirumagan turns from a smart political heist thriller, to a yet another emotional drama about a man fighting for justice. The Robin Hood story comes to the fore. What once was a film which defined its protagonist whose superpower was to pull even far-fetched strings, then becomes an unrealistic narrative, right from employing a random hacker and hooker to get back at a corrupt system. Shakthi Thirumagan loses focus, and becomes a yet another common man versus the system story, giving no new offerings. The latter half of the film also is burdened with some loopholes, as it fails to offer a logical reasoning to connect the intellect and emotional core of the story.

Shakthi Thirumagan movie verdict:

Shakthi Thirumagan gets one of the best written first half of the recent times. It is sleek, engaging, and believable and achieves it by doing very little show off. However, with a under utilised second half, and want to make things pious, it fails to become the masterful political thriller it sets out to be. A missed opportunity.

FAQs

Q. Who is the heroine of Shakthi Thirumagan movie?

A. Trupthi Ravindra is the heroine of Shakthi Thirumagan.

Q. What is the name of Vijay Antony's 25th movie?

A. Shakthi Thirumagan is Vijay Antony's 25th film as an actor.

Q. Where can I watch Shakthi Thirumagan?

A. You can watch Shakthi Thirumagan in theatres and on JioHotstar (OTTplay Premium) post-theatrical run.