Por Thozhil Movie Review: Sarath Kumar and Ashok Selvan’s intelligent thriller does not take audience for granted

By Janani K: Crime thriller is one genre that never loses its sheen. A perfect crime thriller is one which maintains the suspense till the end, manages to keep you hooked throughout and satisfies you with the final payoff. Rarely does a film satisfy all the parameters. And, debutant director Vignesh Raja’s Por Thozhil, produced by Applause Entertainment in association with E4 Experiments & Eprius Studio, belongs to the list. It grabs your attention from the first frame and keeps you surprised till the end.

Set in the 2010s, gruesome murders of young women rock Trichy. As the police try to find out the patterns, they rope in Lokanathan (Sarath Kumar) and Prakash (Ashok Selvan) to follow up on the case. While Lokanathan is short-tempered, he is excellent at his job. Prakash, on the other hand, is scared of peeing in the dark and emotionally awkward. Together, they try to crack the case and find out the criminal and his/her motive.

When it comes to crime thrillers, it is important to keep the surprises coming. Once the villain or the suspect is unveiled, the filmmaker has to have more meat in the story to justify the gruesome murders committed by the person. Here, in Por Thozhil, director Vignesh Raja packed in layers of story and kept the story flowing. In the film, Lokanathan and Prakash find the suspect with the minimal clues available and connect it with serial killings in the 70s.

Lokanathan and Prakash take the audience to their world and they also learn about the killer as we do. The film has several jump scare moments, which work in the film’s favour. The film’s strength is the characterisations of Sarath Kumar and Ashok Selvan. Knowing the psyche of the two cops helps us relate more with the way they react to the murderers. While Lokanathan is unflinching, Prakash is quite emotional.

Here’s the trailer:

The interval sequence where Vignesh reveals a suspect was chilling. But he has followed it up with a solid second half with flashback portions and some more twists.

Sarath Kumar, as the tough cop, is excellent in portraying his role. He has a past too, but that hasn’t been explored in detail. Ashok Selvan as a socially awkward and scared cop is perfect for the role. Similarly, the villains (names not revealed in the review so it doesn’t spoil the experience) played the role to the T.

Por Thozhil, though, has minor flaws. Some of the sequences are quite far-fetched. One needs to look past them to keep ourselves invested in the story. After the director and actors, composer, Jakes Bejoy, elevated the film with his score. His background music and the way he handles silence worked well for the film. Cinematographer Kalaiselvan Sivaji and editor Sreejith Sarang’s work aided in making this thriller a smart one.

Por Thozhil is one of the most interesting thrillers in recent times. It is a film that deserves to be devoured in theatres.

3.5 out of 5 stars for Por Thozhil.