This movie was released long back. However, I viewed it again recently on DVD. Thiruda Thiruda has almost all the ingredients of a commercial Tamil movie - well-done dance sequences, catchy music, memorable songs, comedy, fights, chases, glamorous heroines, mindless villains, gun-toting henchmen who get beaten black and blue by bare-handed heroes and the rest. In fact, the movie has an interesting combination of various elements seen in different Tamil movies - affectionate brothers, village panchayats, policemen who turn into part-time comedians, triangle love, Robin Hood-like heroes who steal from the rich and give to the poor, rustic village belle and glamorous city gal; even the usual thaai maaman atha maga problems (Tamil movie-goers will understand that); and name a chase sequence, and you have it - on a motor bike, on a cycle, on a truck, on a car, on trains, and even on horses! Plus, the movie itself is littered with numerous actors, almost a quarter of the Tamil tinsel town should have figured in it.
It's to the director's credit that he has woven all these elements and more to give a clear and interesting screenplay with well-etched characters. Where he fails is the credibility department. Of course, one can't expect realism in commercial movies. But numerous sequences do test your patience. And then you realise why this movie with amazing songs, a different story and brilliant cinematography still failed to make it big at the box-office.
The story, by the way, is pretty simple - the villain's plan to pinch a 1000 crores of newly printed notes from the Indian government goes awry; the villain and the CBI begin their chase to track down the container; and two village thieves, their ladylove and the villain's mole get drawn into the scheme of things. The movie is worth a watch, especially the songs tuned by AR Rahman - Kannum kannum, Putham puthu bhoomi and Konjam nilavu in particular. The guy who plays Kadir (Anand) looks nice and does a neat job. Pity he hasn't been seen in many Tamil movies.
