Cast: Simbu, Richa Gangopadhyay, Githan Ramesh, Revathi Menon, Nizhalgal Ravi
Director: Dharani
Rating: 2.5/5
Top Cop
Remakes evoke curiosity. But not taste success always. They have to be carefully handled, for the responsibility is double on the director and protagonist to emerge triumphant, as they are rehashing a film which was already a huge hit. Dharani, who has an experience of emerging triumphant with a remake (Ghilli, inspired by Tollywood’s Okkadu) and STR, whose last film was a remake (Vaanam, an adaptation of Telugu cinema’s Vedam), have joined forces to bring Bollywood’s Dabangg to Tamil, in the name of Osthi.
The director and actor have hit the bull’s eye, so to say, for Osthi is a heady mix of commercial elements. Without missing out the Tamil flavour, they have retained the raciness of Dabangg, at least in most parts. Or that is what we feel.
Osthi Velan (STR) is a police inspector at Kattukuppam in Tirunelveli district. He is not the usual cop we see in films. He is crazy, fun-loving and follows his heart. As it happens, Velan falls for Neduvali (Richa Gangopadhyay), daughter of a drunkard (VTV Ganesh).
There is a half-brother to him in the form of Balan (Jithan Ramesh), with whom Velan shares a hate-love relationship. While his mother (Revathy) tries for a patch-up between the two, father (Nasser) stands by Balan’s side.
Enters Boxer Daniel (Sonu Sood) who does all kind of bad things to win a by-poll! But posing a hurdle to him is Velan. Daniel hatches conspiracies by using Balan as pawn. How Velan comes out of it in flying colours is the rest of Osthi.
STR adds credibility to his role with his style and suaveness. As a funny cop, he fits the bill well and delivers goodies. Richa Gangopadhyay continues her success journey, as she is already making waves here thanks to Mayakkam Enna.
Jithan Ramesh gets a meaty role, while it is Sonu Sood hogs all the attention. Nasser, Revathy, Santhanam, Mayilsamy, Vaiyapuri and VTV Ganesh are good selection for their respective characters.
Thaman’s songs for Osthi are already a hit and his background score adds more raciness to the script. Gopinath’s cinematography is a great strength to Dharani. With the help of all these factors and his smart execution of things, Dharani makes Osthi an entertaining fare. However, he could have avoided reminding us some of yesteryear cop stories.