'Thaandavam' Movie Review: The Blind Assassin Does it in Style

Director: AL Vijay

Star cast: Vikram, Jagapathi Babu, Anushka Shetty, Amy Jackson, Lakshmi Rai, Santhanam, Nassar

Genre: Action Drama

"Thaandavam" has a blind assassin on the run in London, who is bumping off one target at a time. He chases his victims, escapes blazing guns and is a killer hitman.  But how does a blind man find his mark? To make it look logical, director Vijay uses the echolocation method. Daniel Kish, who is dubbed as real-life batman, also chips in.

Hero Vikram uses the instinctive technique of bats to zero in on his targets to bump them off.

"Thaandavam" is the usual revenge stuff but rendered in a novel and engaging manner. Vijay has sewn the plot together without leaving any loose ends. It is a telling tale of a spy with a dollop of love, friendship, revenge and betrayal.

The movie takes off with terrorists blowing up the Tower Bridge in London killing several innocents. Later, we are introduced to a blind man who makes a living by playing the piano in a church choir.

Vikram as Keny Thomas aka Shiva Kumar, essays the role he is best at: nerve-tingling action. Before Shiva became Keny, he was a top officer in India's RAW. He lands in London with an assignment and blindly gets trapped in a diabolical plan organised by his best buddy Sarath (Jagapathi Babu).

Bugged by the thought that his service and hard work is underrated in the department he works for and jealous of the success of Shiva, Sarath strikes an insider trading deal with terrorists. He plans to sell off highly confidential matter regarding the Indian military to the spy agencies of other countries. But Shiva poses a threat to Sarath to thwarts all this.

The mission is to seize a pen drive containing crucial classified information that is on its way to London. Shiva hits the trail and tries to lay hands on it before it falls into the lap of evil. The twist in the tale is that he becomes a puppet in the hands of buddy Sarath.

Sarath's aim is to keep Shiva engaged with the British police, while he ties up his deal with foreigners.

As friend and foe are locked in a mortal combat, Sarath takes his innocent wife Meenakshi (Anushka Shetty) and kills her in a bomb blast. Of course, Shiva survives to avenge the killer and traitor.

This is the kind of action-packed role Vikram relishes. Jagapathi Babu tries to be convincing.

Anushka, though around for a brief while, leaves a mark. She plays an eye doctor who wants to set up an eye research institute to help the blind.

Amy Jackson appears as a model and Miss England aspirant, who falls in love with Vikram.

Santhanam provides the lighter moments as Sathyan with his mixture of English and Tamil. A taxi driver, he often falls into the police net as he ferries Vikram around London blind to his mission.

Nassar as Veerakathi, an investigating officer in London, appears to be more serious about playing video games on his iPod than in chasing the assassin.

G. V. Prakash's music is trendy with songs being short and memorable.