''Thoranai'' () or ''Pistha'' () is a 2009 Indian

masala film Masala films of Indian cinema are those that blend multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still being created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely blend action, comedy, romance, and drama, or melod ...

directed by Sabha Ayyappan and produced by

Vikram Krishna Vikram Krishna Reddy, credited in films as Ajay, is a former Indian film producer and actor in Tamil cinema. He is the elder brother of noted actor Vishal (actor), Vishal and is married to actress Sriya Reddy. He produced films under the banne ...

under the banner G K Film Corporation. It stars

Vishal Vishal may refer to: People * Vishal (name), a common Indian given name * King Vishal, emperor of the Mahabharata era who founded the ancient city of Vishalapura * Vishal (actor) (born 1977), Indian film actor, producer and anti-piracy activi ...

and

Shriya Saran Shriya Saran Bhatnagar ( born 11 September 1982) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Telugu language, Telugu, Tamil language, Tamil and Hindi films. Although Saran aspired to become a dancer, she became an actress and made her film deb ...

in the lead roles, while

Prakash Raj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu language, Telugu, Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English language, Engl ...

, Kishore and Santhanam appear in other pivotal roles. The film was simultaneously shot in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

and Telugu languages with different supporting cast in the Telugu version. ''Thoranai'' and ''Pistha'' were released on 29 May 2009.

Plot

Murugan is a native of

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

who arrives at

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

to find his long-lost brother Ganesan, who had run away from home about two decades ago. Murugan gets stuck in a rivalry between gangsters Guru and Tamizharasu, where he learns that Guru is actually Ganesan. Murugan decides to protect Guru/Ganesan from Tamizharasu and a cat-and-mouse game ensues. Guru/Ganesan finally decide to reform himself where he reunites with Murugan and his mother, while Tamizharasu is killed in a police encounter.

Cast

Production

The film was initially to be produced by Singanamala Ramesh with

Reema Sen Reema Sen (born 29 October 1981) is a former Indian actress and model who primarily appeared in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films. Early life and education Reema Sen was born in Kolkata on 29 October 1981. She completed high school from St. ...

as another heroine but, later got shelved and Shriya was confirmed as the single pair for Vishal.

Music

;Tamil version ;Telugu version *"Pidi Pidi" - Ranjith, Naveen *"Naa Maharani" - Udit Narayan *"Pattuko Pattuko" - Narayanan, Janani Madhan *"Oka Pelican" - Rahul, Suchithra *"Naa Maharani" - Ranjith *"Mandakini" - Tippu, Saindhavi

Critical reception

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

'' wrote "Arbitrarily packing in elements of every genre without actually bothering to stop and see if the mix does work, ''Thoranai'' is like an overcooked stew." Pavithra Srinivasan of ''

Rediff Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

'' wrote "Thoranai's only merit is that it's marginally better than '' Sathyam''. ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "It is a formidable star cast that you see in ''Thoranai''. However, what is missing is a convincing story". Reviewing the Telugu version, BVS Prakash of ''The Times of India'' gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "Inspite of a dud like '' Salute'', Tamil star Vishal hasn't realised the significance of a solid plot even for a star-centric film."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title 2000s Indian films 2000s masala films 2000s Tamil-language films 2008 multilingual films 2009 action films 2009 directorial debut films 2009 films Films scored by Mani Sharma Indian action films Indian multilingual films Tamil-language action films Tamil-language Indian films