Irumbu Thirai (transl. Iron Curtain) is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language techno-thriller film directed by debutant P. S. Mithran. The film stars Vishal, Arjun, and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, with Yuvan Shankar Raja composing the soundtrack. The film was produced by Vishal Film Factory, and the venture began production in October 2016. The narrative centers around an army officer, who starts hunting down a gang of hackers after they steal money from his bank account.
| Irumbu Thirai | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | P. S. Mithran |
| Written by | P. S. Mithran Pon Parthiban Savari Muthu Antony Bhagyaraj |
| Produced by | Vishal |
| Starring | Vishal Arjun Samantha |
| Cinematography | George C. Williams |
| Edited by | Ruben |
| Music by | Yuvan Shankar Raja |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Lyca Productions Krikes Cine Creations |
Release date |
|
Running time | 160 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Box office | ₹71 crore[1] |
The film released worldwide on 11 May 2018[2] and received positive reviews from critics and audience praising the cast performances(particularly Vishal and Arjun), writing, direction, action sequences and technical aspects. The film successfully completed 100-days at the box office and became the seventh-highest grossing Tamil film of 2018.[3] Chakra, released in 2021, is unofficially considered to be a standalone sequel.
Plot
editIndian Army Major Kathiravan is working on anger management issues under chief psychiatrist Rathi Devi to return to his job. Soon they both fall in love and she counsels him to leave for his village to spend time with his father Rangaswamy and sister. Though having hated his father due to his habit of borrowing money, Kathiravan reluctantly agrees. Kathiravan finds that his sister's fiancé Kesavan's family demands them to bear the marriage expenses. He realizes his mistake of abandoning his family and promises to fulfill his sister's wish. Kathiravan returns to Chennai to apply for a loan, only to get rejected everywhere. With the advice of his uncle, he takes his father to Chennai along with him and tries to get a loan in Rangaswamy's name but is also rejected everywhere due to financial security.
They are approached by a person, who claims to be a loan agent and tells them to forge documents to get a loan for a commission. Kathiravan initially refuses, but reluctantly agrees to the man's offer and submits all the original documents to him. The person helps them to obtain a loan of ₹6 lakh (US$7,200). Kathiravan is overjoyed and starts the marriage preparation. Later on, when Rangaswamy is unable to withdraw money due to insufficient balance, he informs Kathiravan, who in turn is surprised by the missing funds. Kathiravan enquires the bank but to no avail. He becomes frustrated and scolds Rangaswamy. Unable to bear the words, Rangaswamy attempts suicide. In the hospital, Kathiravan learns that Rangaswamy took debts to extend Kathiravan's sick mother's life. He feels remorseful after hearing this and reconciles with Rangaswamy.
On Rathi's advice and with the help of his friends in the military, he decides to track down the person responsible for the theft. Kathiravan manages to apprehend and chase a loan agent similar to his loan agent to extradite information. Later, he gets a phone call from a private number who tells Kathiravan to release him as he knows all the details about him and even threatens to release the private files in his sister's phone on the net. This shocks Kathiravan, who leaves the agent, but the agent is fatally hit by a van. The mysterious person is later revealed to be Sathyamoorthy, a.k.a. White Devil, who is the kingpin of the Dark Net by the use of the Y2k Problem. He runs an educational trust as a front for his cybercrime network. Kathiravan tracks and confronts Sathyamoorthy where the latter reveals his knowledge of the former following him and tells him that he attacked his sister.
Sathyamoorthy also tells Kathiravan that he put ₹10 lakh (US$12,000) to his account from a flagged account for which he is court-martialed. However, Kathiravan tracks Sathyamoorthy's henchmen with Rathi's help to his henchmen's base, where he retrieves a laptop that they used to hack people's accounts. He frames Satyamoorthy by stealing the money of all police officers of Chennai City Police. He confronts Sathyamoorthy at the server farm, where the two engage in hand-to-hand combat. Sathyamoorthy defeats Kathiravan and burns the money due to his god complex. However, Kathiravan reveals that the burnt money belongs to the Telecom minister, whom he blackmailed into passing information about the Aadhaar card information of all the citizens of India. All the people, along with the policemen, who were conned by Sathyamoorthy learn about him from Kathiravan, and they reach the docks. Kathiravan fights back and defeats Sathyamoorthy, after which Kathiravan reveals that he had hacked Satyamoorthy’s account and stole all of the money, and tells him to face the consequences. He opens the door, as an angry mob enters and assaults Satyamoorthy. Later, Kathiravan transfers their money back to their respective accounts. Sathyamoorthy is arrested by the police but creates a new username named Dark Angel.
Cast
edit- Vishal as Major Kathiravan Rangasamy (Kathir)
- Arjun as Sathyamoorthy / White Devil
- Samantha Ruth Prabhu as Dr. Rathi Devi
- Delhi Ganesh as Rangasamy, Kathir's father
- Sreeja Ravi as Kathir's mother
- Robo Shankar as Kathir's uncle
- Darshana Rajendran as Selvi, Kathir's sister
- Aadukalam Naren as Commissioner
- Suman as ACP (Special Appearance)
- Sathyan as Inspector Pandian
- Kaali Venkat as Gnanavel Raja
- Sharath Lohithaswa as Politician
- Vincent Asokan as Minister
- Mime Gopi as Maravattai
- Madhusudhan Rao as Stephen Raj, a corrupt police officer
- Sampath Ram as Chezhiyan
- Kavithalaya Krishnan as Bank Manager
- Vivek Prasanna as Loan Collection Agent
- G. Marimuthu as Ashram Owner
- R. S. Shivaji as Bank Manager
- Mahanadi Shankar as Loan Agent
- Rahul Thatha as an old villager
- Abdul as Loan Agent
- Sathya NJ as Hacker
- Jeremy Roske as Hacker
- Pradeep K Vijayan as Sivakumar
- Kothandam as Hospital Visitor
- Sharath Ravi as Mobile shop Owner
- Aranthangi Nisha as Rathi's patient
- Rishikanth as Kesavan
- Ashok Pandian as Col. Vivek Suraj
- Harish
- Rail Ravi
- Gemini Mani
- Supergood Subramani
- Hello Kandasamy
- P. S. Mithran as Xerox Shop Owner (special appearance)
Production
editVishal decided to fund and act in a venture directed by newcomer P. S. Mithran in August 2016, and subsequently signed on actress Samantha to play the leading female role in the film.[4][5][6] The team signed Arya to play the antagonist in October 2016, with the actor accepting terms without hearing the film's entire script.[7] Subsequently, music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematographer George C. Williams and editor Ruben were added to the project. Designers NJ Sathya and Neeraja Kona also were revealed to be in charge of the costumes of the lead actors for the film.[8]
The film began production following a launch event in October 2016, with Vishal and Samantha shooting scenes alongside actors Robo Shankar and Delhi Ganesh for the first schedule.[9] Arya later opted out of the film citing that he was not ready to play an antagonist in Tamil cinema, and subsequently the team brought in Arjun.[10][11][12][13][14] Before getting Arjun on board, Mithran was in talks to get S. J. Surya and Fahadh Faasil the role, but Surya chose Mersal and Fahadh chose Velaikkaran.[15]
Music
edit| Irumbu Thirai | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 1 April 2018 | |||
| Recorded | 2018 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Length | 17:39 | |||
| Language | Tamil | |||
| Label | Think Music India | |||
| Producer | Yuvan Shankar Raja | |||
| Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology | ||||
| ||||
The soundtrack and background score features music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The songs were performed by relatively new singers. The album received positive reviews. IndiaGlitz, in its review, noted, "The album is a definite marker of Yuvan's expertise with Athiradi, Yaar Ivan and Azhage. Playlist worthy"[16] Behindwoods in its review said "Irumbu Thirai album is mix of melodies and theme based songs that will work better with visuals"[17]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Angry Bird" | Vignesh Shivan | Jithin Raj | 2:05 |
| 2. | "Azhagae" | Vivek | Arun Kamath, Jonita Gandhi | 4:05 |
| 3. | "Mudhal Murai" | Vivek | Jithin Raj | 3:45 |
| 4. | "Yaar Ivan" | Kaber Vasuki | Kaber Vasuki | 3:45 |
| 5. | "Athiradi" | Vivek | Naveen | 3:59 |
| Total length: | 17:39 | |||
Release
editThe film was dubbed and released into Hindi as The Return of Abhimanyu and was dubbed in Telugu under the name of Abhimanyudu.[18][19] The satellite rights of the film's Tamil and Malayalam version were sold to Zee Tamil and Mazhavil Manorama while the digital rights were sold to ZEE5 and the dubbed versions were sold to Sun NXT and ManoramaMAX respectively. The movie ran successfully in Kerala Andhra Pradesh and Telangana excluding Tamil Nadu[20]
Box office
editTamil Nadu theatrical rights of the film were sold for ₹24.5 crore.[21] The film grossed ₹61 crore (US$7.3 million) at the worldwide box office and became a commercial success.[22]
References
edit- ^ "Irumbu Thirai lifetime box office collection: Vishal's film turns out to be a 'blockbuster'". International Business Times. 2 July 2018. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
- ^ "Vishal-Samantha's 'Irumbu Thirai' to release on May 11". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
- ^ "Vishal to act in and produce Irumbu Thirai 2. Details here". India Today. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
- ^ "Vishal's next titled as Irumbu Thirai". Behindwoods.com. 30 August 2016. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ "Samantha to romance Vishal!". Sify. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ "Fresh pairing for Samantha!". Deccan Chronicle. 6 October 2016. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ "Arya to play Vishal's villain in Irumbu Thirai". Behindwoods.com. 17 October 2016. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ Suganth, M. "nj sathya: Costume designer NJ Sathya turns actor to fulfill dad's wish". The Times of India. timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ "Vishal: Vishal's 'Irumbu Thirai' begins with a pooja". The Times of India. timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ Balachandran, Logesh. "Arya opts out of Vishal's film". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- ^ "IrumbuThiraiMovie Review". PakkaTv. 14 May 2018. Archived from the original on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
- ^ "IrumbuThiraiMovie review by Praveena". PakkaTv. 14 May 2018. Archived from the original on 14 May 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
- ^ "Irumbu Thirai Australia Public Opinion". PakkaTv. 14 May 2018. Archived from the original on 14 May 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
- ^ "IrumbuThiraiMovie Public Opinion". PakkaTv. 14 May 2018. Archived from the original on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
- ^ "Interview with Irumbu Thirai Director PS Mithran". 9 May 2018. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
- ^ "Irumbu Thirai Music review songs lyrics – IndiaGlitz.com". IndiaGlitz. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- ^ "Irumbu Thirai (aka) Irumbuthiraii songs review". Behindwoods. 5 February 2018. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- ^ "The Return of Abhimanyu (Irumbu Thirai) 2019 New Released Full Hindi Dubbed Movie | Vishal, Samantha". youtube.com. Archived from the original on 28 June 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
- ^ "First Look: Vishal In Abhimanyudu". greatandhra.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Diwali 2018 Special Movies On TV Channels: 96, Vishwaroopam 2, Kaala & Other Tamil Movies!". FilmiBeat. 3 November 2018. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ^ "Irumbu Thirai TN theatrical rights". YouTube. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- ^ "Irumbu Thirai lifetime box office collection: Vishal's film turns out to be a 'blockbuster'". International Business Times. 2 July 2018. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2019.