100 movie review: A formulaic cop thriller with over the top action sequences, unnecessary heroism

Tamil cinema is obsessed with cop films where most of the time an angry police officer fights the system and triumphs in the last reel. Although this formula has been used to death in hundreds of films, even the big heroes love playing the Kollywood’s ‘Dirty Harry’. Every upcoming hero jumps at the idea of doing a cop film in a bid to attain the next level of stardom. Atharvaa Murali is the latest to jump on the cop bandwagon with 100 The Movie. As seen in many past films, Sathya (Atharvaa) is an angry student waiting to be short-listed in the police force. He wants to flex his muscles and get a posting in an area where he will be able to counter the rowdy menace. And soon he gets his appointment order from the Home department, he realises he is posted in the control room, where he has to use his brain more than brawn. It is mentioned subtly that only those who are dull are deployed in the control room and those with connections are posted in police stations. [caption id=“attachment_6613911” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Atharvaa and Hansika in a still from 100. Image via Twitter/@Nettv4uTamil[/caption] However, he gets fed up of sitting in the control room, listening to prank calls and hearing out people’s problems. Sathya’s immediate boss ‘Pistol’ Prabhakaran (Radha Ravi) tells him he has the that nickname as he has never used a pistol in his career. One day, while whiling away his time, Sathya gets his 100th call, from a girl who is presumed dead by the police. But the girl says she was kidnapped. He traces the call and goes after the case which leads him to a kidnapping gang that abducts women and posts their personal photos on Facebook. The rest of the film is how Sathya, a good cop, teaches the bad men a lesson. The premise of the hero manning the police control room is different from other run-of-the-mill cop stories. Alas, like every other new age Tamil cinema director, Sam Anton too can’t resist songs, dances and ridiculously slow-paced action scenes that unnecessarily hype up the hero. There is a heroine (Hansika) who appeares in exactly three scenes, including a song. She disappears in the second half. It also seems like the hero speaks to the main villain in only punchlines for the sake of the climax. Atharvaa Murali plays a cop with ease and looks convincing. Yogi Babu, as his friend in the control room, provides some laughter. Radha Ravi as the senior cop does a neat job. There isn’t much to say about the female character. The first half of the film is just a built up for a long-drawn-out climax. If Anton had made the film from an engaging script and treated it as a realistic investigative thriller without any over the top heroism, it would have worked.