‘Irumbu Thirai’ to ‘Vivegam’: A look at cyber-crime thrillers in Tamil cinema

Of late, cyber-crime thriller seems to be the current trend in Tamil cinema. A lot of films, over the years, that dealt with a similar theme have become very successful at the box office. Recently, the Vishal-starrer ‘Irumbu Thirai’ opened to glowing reviews from critics and became a money spinner at the box office. Right from ‘Arima Nambi’ to the Ajith Kumar-starrer ‘Vivegam’, here’s a list of popular films that dealt with cyber-crime as its core.

When two powerhouses of talents, Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal collaborate for a project, the outcome is almost inevitable at the box office. Veteran superstars Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal worked together for the first time in ‘Unnaipol Oruvan’, a remake of the Bollywood blockbuster ‘A Wednesday', which had Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher in the main roles. Much like the Hindi film, the Tamil version, too, opened to unanimous positive response from all quarters and became a money spinner at the box office. Directed by Chakri Toleti, the film tracks the story of a police officer IGR Maarar (Mohanlal), who recounts a peculiar case. An anonymous man (Kamal Haasan) posing as a terrorist, uses tech-savvy tools to wipe out terrorism. Needless to say, the critics heaped praise on ‘Unnaipol Oruvan’, especially for its emotional connect and of course, the Kamal-Lal combination.

This Vikram Prabhu-starrer created waves when it released in 2014. ‘Arima Nambi’, which marked the directorial debut of Anand Shankar, was hailed as Tamil cinema’s answer to some of the Hollywood thrillers. It tracks the story of two strangers Arjun (Vikram Prabhu) and Anamika (Priya Anand), who meet at a bar. However, they land in a dangerous situation, followed by a series of twists and turns that make ‘Arima Nambi’, a must watch thriller. It was equally appreciated for its racy screenplay that blends action and suspense elements quite well. ‘Arima Nambi’, which was produced on a minimal budget, was extremely successful at the box office.

Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan’s directorial debut took upon a rather sensitive theme that talked about the dark internet and how many people fall victim to internet voyeurism. In a way, you could say that ‘Lens’ is a cyber-crime thriller that talks about a married man, who is addicted to webcam videos and indulges in random video chats on the internet. Later, the very same man gets embodied in a series of events that shakes him up. More than a thriller, Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan received a lot of laurels for touching upon an important and necessary subject. Upon release, the film opened to good reviews and was screened at several film festivals.

Superstar Mahesh Babu collaborated with AR Murugadoss for the cyber-crime thriller ‘Spyder’, which was simultaneously released in Telugu and Tamil. The film revolves around Shiva (Mahesh Babu), an intelligence officer, who develops a software that helps him track people who are in need of help. Through the software, Shiva learns that a serial killer named Sudalai (SJ Suryah) is on the run. The rest of the story is about the cat-and-mouse game between Sudalai and Shiva that was entertaining. Despite huge expectations, ‘Spyder’ received a mixed response from critics and audience. Made on a lavish budget, the film, however, failed to mint money at the box office. On the other hand, ‘Spyder’ was appreciated for stellar performances by Mahesh Babu and SJ Suryah in lead roles.

Ajith Kumar’s highly anticipated spy-thriller ‘Vivegam’ was one of the disappointing releases last year. Following the success of ‘Vedalam’, Ajith Kumar and director Siva teamed up once again for ‘Vivegam’, a big-budget extravaganza that was panned by critics. In the film, Ajith Kumar plays a counter-terrorism agent- Ajay Kumar aka AK, who is assigned on a special mission. AK gets betrayed by his own team members and they plot a plan to kill him. However, AK survives and the rest is about how he takes his revenge. Although criticised for a weak storyline, ‘Vivegam’ was praised for its tech-heavy screenplay that had some really good moments. It’s worth mentioning that the scene with Akshara Haasan was particularly conceived well. ‘Vivegam’ was made on a large scale, but failed to impress at the box office.

Vishal’s much-awaited ‘Irumbu Thirai’ turned out to be one of the big hits of 2018. Upon release, ‘Irumbu Thirai’ received fantastic response from critics and audience. Directed by debutant PS Mithran, the film was highly praised for its layered screenplay and meticulous research about the dark internet. Produced by Vishal Film Factory, ‘Irumbu Thirai’ is now said to be the biggest hit in Vishal’s career. A Telugu dubbed version titled ‘Abhimanyudu’ too became very successful among the Tollywood circuit. In fact, superstar Mahesh Babu heaped praise on Vishal and the film. Also starring Samantha Akkineni, Arjun Sarja, Robo Shankar and Delhi Ganesh, the film has music by Yuvan Shankar Raja.