Pathu Thala review: Silambarasan's swag and AR Rahman's music elevate this partly engaging action drama

2.5/5

Story: An influential and crooked politician eyes the CM chair in Tamil Nadu. He knows that the sitting CM should be finished off to occupy the position. However, the biggest hurdle for him is to outsmart the plans of a kingmaker, who is based out of Kanyakumari. Meanwhile, a young and sincere cop is assigned the task of nabbing the kingmaker who also has a few dreaded connections. The undercover cop joins the latter's gang of goons. How is the state's political scenario going to change?

Review: Obeli N Krishna's action-packed political drama has a story that involves high stakes, emotions and various conflicts. It begins with Gunasekaran (Gautham Menon), the deputy CM of Tamil Nadu, hatching plans to occupy the Chief Minister's post. The sitting CM (Santhosh Pratap) is aware of it, and is confident of saving himself from the former.

However, he goes missing after he leaves home one night, leaving his admirers and other citizens of the state perplexed. Gunasekaran pins high hopes on turning this scenario into his favour. But he knows the influence AGR (Silambarasan), a Kanyakumari-based kingmaker has in Tamil Nadu politics, and decides to finish him off.

Guna aka Sakthivel (Gautham Karthik), an undercover cop, joins AGR's gang in order to nab him as he believes the latter is involved in several criminal cases. How's the conflict between the trio likely to affect people's lives?

The major positive aspect of Pathu Thala is, unsurprisingly, Rahman's background score. His music elevates a few sequences and is a perfect example of how effective score could surpass the evident shortcomings in mediocre scenes. However, the placement of some of the songs, including the much-hyped Raawadi, raises our eyebrows. Silambarasan's towering screen presence is another factor which uplifts the movie in its latter half.

His convincing body language, subtle expressions and aggressiveness in action episodes fits the bill as the reckoning force in Tamil Nadu politics and are sure to leave his fans thrilled. Watching him perform some of the stunts choreographed by Sakthi Saravanan is a treat, to say the least.

Gautham Karthik and Teejay Arunasalam play their respective roles quite effortlessly. The characters of Gautham Menon, Priya Bhavani Shankar and Redin Kingsley are under-written while Anu Sithara's scene with Silambarasan stands out. Kalaiyarasan, Santhosh Pratap, Sendrayan and Manushyaputhiran do not have much to do. Despite a few characters not properly fleshed out, the director has chosen talented actors which keeps the audience engaged to an extent.

What lets us down is the lack of intriguing moments in the slow-paced screenplay. One expects quite a few captivating and innovative episodes from a gangster flick which is set against a political backdrop. 

However, Pathu Thala doesn't offer those riveting moments despite the plot having ample scope for the same. Farook J Basha's visuals are pleasing and aids in transporting the audience to a world where AGR unleashes his revenge and power on to his detractors.

Verdict: Pathu Thala falls slightly short of meeting the expectations of movie buffs. The film has a few well-made portions, but those aren't enough to satisfy the audience, when you consider the exceptional names involved in its cast and crew.