''Thira'' () is a 2013 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

-language

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

thriller drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-ge ...

directed by

Vineeth Sreenivasan Vineeth Sreenivasan (born 1 October 1984) is an Indian playback singer, actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, creative director and dubbing artist. He predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. He is the son of actor an ...

and scripted by his cousin Rakesh Mantodi.Nagarajan, Saraswathy (14 November 201
On the trail of a mystery
''The Hindu'' It stars

Shobana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fil ...

alongside debutant

Dhyan Sreenivasan Dhyan Sreenivasan (born 20 December 1988) is an Indian actor, and film director who works in Malayalam films. He made his acting debut with ''Thira'' (2013), directed by his elder brother Vineeth Sreenivasan.

in the lead roles. The film was produced by Manoj Menon under the banner ReelsMagic and distributed by LJ Films.Setting off on the road less taken
''New Indian Express''. 14 November 2013 ''Thira'' was announced to be the first installment in a trilogy of thriller films. According to Srinivasan, the film was inspired from the book ''The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine'' by Somaly Mam. The film marks the debut of Vineeth Sreenivasan's younger brother

and also the return of Shobana Pillai to Malayalam cinema after almost a gap of five years. It was filmed by Jomon T. John and has music composed by Shaan Rahman. Principal photography of the film took place in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, Belgaum and

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. It was released on 14 November 2013 to moderate reviews, despite failing poorly at the box office. The film was screened in IFFK 2013. Dinesh Prabhakar was the casting director for the movie and it's the first movie that introduced the concept of casting director in Malayalam movie.

Synopsis

The story is set in the Indian states of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

and

. Dr. Rohini Pranab, a busy cardiac surgeon, also rescues and shelters destitute and trafficked girls in a home she runs. One day, her girls are kidnapped by an illegal human trafficking ring. Rohini is charged with illegal trafficking after the kidnap of the girls and the news hits all major newspapers. A youth named Naveen also loses his sister to the same gang when she is kidnapped, right in front of his eyes. Rohini and Naveen meet due to similar circumstances and decide to rescue the girls before they are drugged and raped by high-profile clients during a party organised by a mining group. Rohini's friends also try to help, but the gang is well connected, well coordinated and a step ahead of them always. By opening the bank locker of Pranab Ray, Rohini's husband, an investigative journalist who was killed by this very same gang, they get clues to the whereabouts of the girls, but his hard disk with the information is stolen when Rohini is kidnapped while coming out of the bank. Rohini escapes from the kidnappers car who drive away with Pranab's file and hard disk. Rohini remembers the photograph in Pranab's file and they figure out the place where the girls are. They then proceed to Goa to rescue the girls.

Cast

as Dr. Rohini Pranab *

as Naveen *

S. Rajasekar S. Rajasekar (19 August 1957 – 8 September 2019) was an Indian cinematographer, film director, and actor. He was one half of the director duo Robert–Rajasekar. Career Rajasekar's first break happened with ''Kudisai'', followed by ' ...

as Dada *

Sijoy Varghese Sijoy Varghese (born 6 March 1971) is an Indian actor and advertising filmmaker. He has been involved in advertising and cinema for 20 years. As an actor he has portrayed characters in Malayalam films including: Bangalore Days, Avatharam, J ...

as Cabinet Minister Alex *

Deepak Parambol Deepak Parambol (born November 1, 1988) is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. Deepak Parambol made his acting debut in ''Malarvaadi Arts Club'' (2010), directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan. He is notable for his roles in '' Thattathin ...

as Deepak * Gaurav Vasudev as Kidnapper * Amritha Anil as Rhea * Harikrishnan * Sabhitha * Janan V Jacob as Bank Manager

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is composed by Shaan Rahman. Lyrics are penned by Anu Elizabeth Jose.

Critical reception

''Thira'' received average reviews upon releasing and was generally considered a box-office flop. The movie did not have a large reception mainly because the film got only a few releases and the telecasting of the movie wasn't widespread. The movie is deemed as "an underrated brilliance of Vineeth Sreenivasan". Nowrunning.com remarked that "Vineeth Sreenivasan's ''Thira'' is a thoughtful exploration of a theme that is often discussed in hushed whispers. It's quite resolute in its objective, is extremely detailed, is involving for its most part and is charmingly acted as well." Oneindia.in rated it 4 out of 5 and says "Here comes a movie which stands apart from the rest of Malayalam films, which entertains the viewers from start to end and makes us crave for more. Yes, ''Thira'' by Vineeth Sreenivasan is a well directed, well acted, engaging movie which can be termed as paisa vasool."

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

gave 3 stars out of 5 and mentioned "The narrative of the film moves at a steady pace despite the predictability that comes along with it".

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...

.com described the film as average, "an okay one-time watch", while pointing out inspirations from the 2007 film, ''

Trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

''.

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...

wrote, "''Thira'' is a satisfying thriller carried successfully by lead actress Shobhana".

Sequel

''Thira'' was announced to be the first of the

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

thriller series by

. Vineeth wrote on his official blog, "''Thira'' is not one film. It's a trilogy. If everything goes well by god's grace, Part 1 will be releasing in 2013. Part 2 and Part 3 will follow....". Vineeth also revealed that Thira 2 will have a popular young actor of Mollywood in lead role and he will also star in Thira 3, along with

, who played the lead in Thira. The sequel was planned to be more character oriented, rather than being an extension of ''Thira.'' It was confirmed by Vineeth that ''Thira 2'' will be focusing more on the character, Amar and the part of Dhyan is over with the first film. However, Vineeth confirmed that the sequel didn't materialize due to several reasons.

Festival screenings

The film was an official selection for the following film festivals: * Gwinnett Center International Film Festival – International Competition section.

Awards

;

Vanitha Film Awards The Vanitha Film Awards are presented annually by ''Vanitha'', an Indian magazine from the ''Malayala Manorama'' group in the south Indian state of Kerala. The awards ceremony has been instituted to honour both artistic and technical excellence i ...

*Best Actress – Shobana Pillai ;

Asianet Film Awards The Asianet Film Awards is an award ceremony for films presented annually by Asianet, a Malayalam-language television network from the south-Indian state of Kerala. Asianet says that awards ceremony has been instituted to honour both artis ...

*Best Debut Actor – Dhyan Sreenivasan

References

External links

*
Thira – Official Facebook Page
{{Vineeth Sreenivasan 2013 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Films scored by Shaan Rahman 2013 thriller films Films about prostitution in India Indian mystery thriller films Films shot in Karnataka Films shot in Goa Films shot in Telangana Films shot in Chennai Indian mystery drama films Films directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan