Thondan (2017 film)

Thondan
Directed by	Samuthirakani
Produced by	R. Manikandan
Written by	Samuthirakani
Starring	Samuthirakani Vikranth Sunaina Arthana Binu
Music by	Justin Prabhakaran
Cinematography	N. K. Ekambaram Richard M. Nathan
Edited by	A. L. Ramesh
Production company	Vasundara Devi Cine Films
Distributed by	Vasundara Devi Cine Films
Release date	26 May 2017 (2017-05-26)
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Thondan (English: Volunteer) is a 2017 Indian Tamil vigilante drama film written and directed by Samuthirakani. The film features Samuthirakani himself in the lead role, with Vikranth, Sunaina and Arthana amongst others in pivotal roles. Featuring music composed by Justin Prabhakaran, the venture began production in December 2016 and had a theatrical release on 26 May 2017.

Plot

Narayanan (Namo Narayana) is the son of Pandiyanar, a Central Minister and Narayanan uses his father's name to make money by corruption, though his father is against it. One day some goons try to kill a man in daylight, as instructed by Narayanan due to some vengeance. The man is lying in a pool of blood and a local witnesses this and informs to the ambulance. The ambulance driver is "Vishnu" (Samuthirakani), who is a kind hearted man and has never let anyone die who he has taken in his ambulance. Vishnu admits the man in the hospital and he is saved. Narayanan is angry with Vishnu for saving his enemy and warns him for which he replies that saving lives of people is his duty.

Vishnu has a father and a sister, who is stalked by Vicky (Vikranth), a drunkard and jobless youth who also happens to be a friend of Vishnu. Vishnu warns Vicky and convinces him to do something useful in life and makes him attend the Medical Technician course. He successfully completes it and saves lives of people, earning the love of Vishnu and his family.

Vishnu's sister has a friend who is stalked by Ravi, the brother of Narayanan and she beats him with a slipper in a bus in front of many people. Insulted by this, he plans his revenge against her and beats her up with a wooden log inside her class room. The fellow students see this and smash him in the classroom, killing him. The attack is led by Vishnu's sister. Vishnu arrives with his ambulance to admit Ravi to the hospital. To avoid traffic, he takes the outer bypass, infuriating Narayanan. Ravi succumbs to the injury and Narayanan blames Vishnu for this and beats him up. But he is saved by the public. Narayanan vows to kill Vishnu.

Vishnu gets mad after his father loses his hearing ability and his wife suffers a miscarriage. Deeply saddened by this, Vishnu confronts Narayanan, who pleads he is innocent. Vishnu believes that being a common man, he cannot do anything against such a powerful man who has political support. Narayanan regularly bribes the local Police Inspector and government officials and have them under his control. Vishnu is helped by the Sub Inspector who saves him from getting arrested by the Police for attacking Narayanan.

So Vishnu decides to play the rough game. He plans to destroy Narayanan and bring him to justice. He starts with gathering all the details of the properties owned by Narayanan. He also gets more documents and a video footage of him insulting the Police Inspector and government officials while bribing from Narayanan's auditor, who helps Vishnu because he saved the Auditor's wife once in his ambulance. Vishnu gathers all evidence and realizes that Narayanan used his father's name to earn huge money and bought so much properties by corruption. Vishnu documents all these evidences and sends them to IT, Vigilance and other departments. And he also sends the video footage to the wives of the Police Inspector and government officials, who lose their respect among their families. So the Police Inspector and government officials decide to teach Narayanan a lesson and stop supporting him for his further actions.

The IT department raids Narayanan's house and confiscate all his belongings and arrest him. Narayanan tries to escape, but meets with an accident. While he is struggling, it is Vishnu who comes with his ambulance saves him, despite Narayanan being his enemy.

Cast

Production

In May 2016, Samuthirakani revealed that he was set to work with Jayam Ravi for the second time after Nimirndhu Nil on a project titled Thondan, using a script that he had initially written for Sasikumar. He stated that production would begin by the end of the year, with Allari Naresh also selected to play a role.^[1][2] However Jayam Ravi's busy schedule during 2016 and 2017 meant that the pair could not eventually work together.^[3]

The film re-materialised during December 2016, with Vikranth signed on to portray the role originally assigned to Naresh, while Samuthirakani himself would play the lead role. Vikranth revealed that he would star in the project alongside commitments to work in Suseenthiran's ventures Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu 2 and Nenjil Thunivirundhal. Samuthirakani stated the film would be about "simple men, their lives, problems and pain" and "these are people who provide a service to the society; they might earn a less salaries, but they definitely get more satisfaction out of life".^[4] He added that the film would tackle several social issues in India including demonetisation, corruption in politics, the farmers' plight, jallikattu and the harassment of women.^[5][6] Production began during early December 2016, with Sunaina added to the cast after Samuthirakani was impressed with her performance in Neerparavai (2012).^[7][8]

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by Justin Prabhakaran and featured five songs. The album was released on 9 April 2017 through Yuvan Shankar Raja's U1 Records label.

Release

The film had a theatrical release across Tamil Nadu on 26 May 2017, alongside Radha Mohan's Brindavanam (2017 film), and earned mixed to negative reviews. Anupama Subramaniam of the Deccan Chronicle wrote Thondan is an "interesting film sans entertainment values" and "all is well and good, but things do become a bit self-righteous and annoying when a fictional film begins to give you lessons on ethics and morality".^[9] India Today's review stated that "Thondan is Samuthirakani's TED Talk in Tamil that runs for more than two hours", adding that it is "an uninteresting social commentary".^[10] On a positive note, film critic Santhosh Mathevan wrote, "Kani documents a lot of true events, and he also comes out with some real time and cinematic references  in his screenplay." He also criticised, "Usually, the mercury level of preaching would always touch the peak of thermometer in every of Kani's movie. But, Thondan has let the mercury bulb burst, as the film seems to be a 138 minute-tight-pack of loads of moral values to teach."^[11] Sify.com stated the film was "filled with a plethora of messages in an over preachy tone".^[12] A critic from The New Indian Express wrote the film was "a basket of moral lectures", concluding "Thondan is what you feared would happen once Appa (2016) did as well as it did".^[13] Baradwaj Rangan rated the film 1 out of 5 and wrote, "As expected, actor and director Samuthirakani, delivers yet another sermon disguised as a movie".^[14] The film took a lukewarm opening at the Chennai box office and fared averagely commercially.^[15]

References

External links

• Thondan on IMDb