Official Trailer:

In the hands of a good director, even a generic serial killer story can become an engaging thriller drama. Por Thozhil is one of those movies. With a clear vision, directors, Vignesh Raja and T.Senthil Paramasivam, narrate the story crisply, don’t digress with unnecessary scenes, and maintain a good momentum building to the tense climax. Movie opens with two cops on night patrol. The topic of conversation between them while funny also shows the situations and pains cops go through. What is also interesting is how this topic has connection to the events that happen later in the movie. A pat on the back to the writers. A rookie cop is assigned to work with a reclusive / asocial senior detective, a familiar trope from Hollywood cop movies, and both are asked to investigate the case. They are racing against time as the body count keeps going up. Modus Operandi (MO) of the murders leads them to dig up the old unsolved murders, going back nearly 30 years, with similar MO. Are the latest murders done by the same person or a copy-cat?

If you are familiar with earlier serial killer movies, Por Thozhil has nothing new to offer or breaks any new ground from the story side. Where the movie succeeds is in keeping us engaged with its character arcs, writing, and performances. SP Loganathan (Sarath Kumar), DSP Prakash (Ashok Selvan), Kennedy (Sarath Babu), characters are well developed. Sarath Kumar, Sarath Babu, and Ashok have given their best performances but a special call out to Sarath Kumar, he gets into the skin of the reclusive cop character. You can feel Loganathan’s inner struggle in the final scene where he can’t bring himself to complement Prakash on the good work he has done. Goes against his character!! Bravo 👏 How Loganathan mentors Ashok as they go through the investigation process, and how Ashok’s bookish knowledge helps in the case are skillfully woven into the narration. We are also given a hint to Loganathan’s reclusive behavior. Thanks to the director for not getting into obligatory message mode on parenting towards the climax 😀 Movie isn’t without faults. Veena’s character needed more screen time given the fact that she plays a crucial role in the case. While BGM is fine, would have preferred more silence, it would have gone well with the mood of the movie. But these are minor squabbles. With strong performances and a taut narrative Por Thozhil is an investigative thriller worth watching.