Now that’s a plot twist! An honest policeman takes a heart surgeon hostage to save his son and makes a greedy hospital worse. It is like a medical thriller with a touch of justice in a vigilante style. What inspired this interesting story?
“Babu Yogeswaran’s Tamilarasan” unfolds as a cinematic narrative that parallels a patient with multiple medical problems, presenting lapses that mirror the unpredictability of cardiac arrest. However, among its weaknesses, one cannot accuse the film of lacking heart – ironically, it is fitting for a story centered around a heart transplant.
The characters in this engrossing story seem to go through emotional transformations as rapidly as shedding a hospital gown, creating unintentional poetry within a story struggling with a weak pulse.
The protagonist, Tamilarasan (Vijay Antony), embodies the bleeding-heart police ideal. His world shatters when he learns that his son, Prabhakar (Pranav Mohan), has a weak heart requiring a transplant. The film takes a dark turn when they encounter a profit-driven hospital, with cold-blooded administrators and stone-hearted doctors.
To complicate matters further, a minister also seeks a heart transplant, giving Prabhakar low priority. In a state of desperation, Tamilarasan decides to take matters into his own hands and takes the hospital’s heart specialist, Dr. Muruganantham (Suresh Gopi), hostage.
Their mission: to force the medical institution to prioritize their son’s life. The narrative unfolds against the backdrop of corruption, with Tamilarasan’s superior, Rana Pratap Singh (Sonu Sood), adding another layer of conflict.
Will Tamilarasan succeed in saving his son in a world where personal agendas and corruption are matters of life and death? The film raises questions about the ethics of healthcare priorities and how far a desperate father is willing to go for the sake of his child.
Tamilarasan’s journey becomes a tense exploration of justice, morality, and the inherent flaws within the system, set against the ticking clock of his son’s vulnerable heart.
“Tamilarasan” appears to be a cinematic patient in desperate need of a narrative miracle, which is evident even on paper. The film’s writing resembles a doctor’s illegible handwriting, its intonation fluctuating as unevenly as a patient’s pulse.
The jarring shifts in tone, from the scenes depicting a boy fighting for his life to the banter between Robo Shankar and Yogi Babu, create a disjointed cinematic experience.
The film is akin to a pharmacist disregarding a doctor’s prescription and giving up on researching organ transplants. This decision results in melodramatic and unintentionally funny scenes that fail to match the seriousness of the subject matter.
If the intention was to expose medical corruption and greed in hospitals, the film falls short, especially when compared to more competent portrayals in films like “Ramana,” which tackled similar themes two decades earlier. The issue with the film lies in its depiction of a hostage situation, where law enforcement handles the crisis in a manner that borders on the ridiculous.
The incompetence of the police in dealing with the situation starkly contrasts with more efficient portrayals; in Bhagyaraj’s “Rudhra,” for example, the police seem comparatively competent.
In short, “Tamilarasan” suffers from a narrative disorder, failing to strike a balance between the serious themes it attempts to explore and the comedic elements included in the story.
The film misses the opportunity for a more nuanced and well-researched investigation of medical corruption, offering audiences a cinematic experience that mirrors the chaos of an uncontrolled prescription.
Despite the presence of seasoned actors like Suresh Gopi, Sangeetha, Kasthuri, and Radha Ravi, their performances in “Tamilarasan” have been described as clinical and devoid of emotion – reminiscent of nurses assisting a surgeon on an operating table.
Ramya Nambisan, given a limited scope, has been pushed into two roles: romancing Vijay Antony akin to Vijay Sethupathi in “Sethupathi” and playing a concerned mother.
In the central role, Vijay Antony is acknowledged for his sincerity, but his performance is criticized as harsh, akin to an unresponsive patient. The portrayal lacks the depth and nuance needed to bring the character to life, leaving the audience wanting more emotional connection from the lead actor.
Collective criticism suggests that the film struggles not only with its narrative and tonal inconsistencies but also with the ability of its seasoned cast to inject the necessary emotion and vitality into their roles.
The disconnect between the cast and their characters further adds to the challenges “Tamilarasan” faces in making a lasting impact on the audience. While acknowledging the film’s honesty, akin to its lead actor, “Tamilarasan” attempts to be socially responsible, including references to the Thoothukudi shootout and maintaining political correctness in its portrayal of women.
However, despite these well-intentioned efforts, the film’s approach has been compared to the old-fashioned tunes composed by Ilaiyaraaja, resulting in a dull film-watching experience akin to a slow IV drip.
The criticism underlines not only the importance of good intentions but also the necessity of updated and engaging execution, especially when dealing with social issues. The film’s reliance on outdated storytelling methods and musical choices hinders its ability to captivate the audience, resulting in an experience as mundane as watching a slow IV drip.
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