Irumbu Thirai is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by debutant P. S. Mithran. The film stars Vishal, Arjun, and Samantha, with Yuvan Shankar Raja composing the soundtrack. The film was produced by Vishal Film Factory, and the venture began production in October 2016. The narrative centers around an army officer who starts hunting down a gang of hackers after they steal money from his account. The film released worldwide on 11 May 2018. The film successfully completed a 100-day theatrical run. A sequel titled Irumbu Thirai 2 is in the works.
Plot
R. Kathiravan is working on anger management issues under chief psychiatrist Rathi Devi with the hope of resuming his job. She counsels him to go to his village to spend time with his father Rangaswamy and sister. Kathiravan hates his father due to his habit of borrowing money, and he reluctantly does this. Kathiravan finds that his sister's fiancé Kesavan's family demands them to bear the marriage expenses. He realizes his mistake of abandoning his family and promises to fulfill his sister's wish. Kathiravan returns to Chennai to apply a loan, only to get it rejected everywhere. With the advice of his uncle, he takes his father to Chennai along with him and tries to get a loan in his father's name and too gets rejected everywhere due to financial security. They get approached by a man who claims to be a loan agent and tells them to forge documents to get a loan for a commission. Kathiravan initially refuses, but he reluctantly agrees to the man's offer and submits all the original documents to him. The man helps them in obtaining a loan of 6 Lakhs INR. Initially, Kathiravan is overjoyed and starts the marriage preparation. Later on, when his father was unable to withdraw money due to insufficient balance, he informs Kathiravan, who in turn is shocked to know about the missing fund. Kathiravan enquires the bank staff in a futile effort. He gets frustrated and scolds his father. Unable to bear the words, his father attempts suicide. In the hospital, Kathiravan comes to know that his father took debts to extend Kathiravan's sick mother's life. He feels remorseful after hearing this and starts loving his father. On Rathi Devi's advice and with the help of his friends in the military, he decides to the track down the person responsible. Kathiravan manages to apprehend and chase a loan agent similar to his loan agent in order to extradite information. He gets a phone call from a private number who tells Kathiravan to release him as he tells him that he knows all details about Kathiravan and even threatens to release the private audio and video of his sister's phone on the Internet. Upon hearing this, Kathiravan gets shocked and decides to leave the agent, who gets fatally hit by a van. The mysterious person is later revealed to be Sathyamoorthy, aka The White Devil who became the kingpin of the Dark Net by the use of the Y2k Problem. He runs an educational trust as front for his cybercrime network. Kathiravan tracks and confronts Sathyamoorthy. The latter reveals his knowledge of the former following him and tells him that he attacked his sister. Sathyamoorthy also tells Kathiravan that he put Rs. 10 Lakhs to his account from a flagged account for which he is court-martialed. Still, with the help of Rathi Devi, he tracks Sathyamoorthy's henchmen. At the server farm, the two finally engage in a fist fight. Sathyamoorthy defeats Kathiravan and burns the money due to his god-complex. All the people who were conned by Sathyamoorthy come to know about Sathyamoorthy by Kathiravan and they reach the dock. Kathiravan, then gets up and fights with Sathyamoorthy and injures him The people get their money transferred back to their respective accounts. Meanwhile, Sathyamoorthy is arrested by the police but creates a new username named "Dark Angel", implying that he will return.
P. S. Mithran as Xerox Shop Owner (special appearance
Rishikanth
Nithin Prasanna in an uncredited role
Production
decided to fund and act in a venture directed by newcomer P. S. Mithran in August 2016, and subsequently signed on actress Samantha to play the leading female role in the film. In fact, the director wrote the antagonist's role for Arjun, but Arjun refused to act as the antagonist. The team then signed Arya to play the antagonist in October 2016, with the actor accepting terms without hearing the film's entire script. Subsequently, music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, cinematographer George C. Williams and editor Ruben were added to the project. Designers NJ Sathya and Neeraja Kona also were revealed to be in charge of the costumes of the lead actors for the film. The film began production following a launch event in October 2016, with Vishal and Samantha shooting scenes alongside actors Robo Shankar and Delhi Ganesh for the first schedule. Arya later opted out of the film citing that he was not ready to play an antagonist in Tamil cinema,and subsequently the team brought in Arjun. Before getting Arjun on board, Mithran was in talks to get S. J. Surya and Fahadh Faasil the role, but Surya chose Mersal and Fahadh chose Velaikkaran.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack and background score features music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The songs were performed by relatively new singers. The album received positive reviews. IndiaGlitz in its review noted "The album is a definite marker of Yuvan’s expertise with Athiradi, Yaar Ivan and Azhage. Playlist worthy" Behindwoods in its review said "Irumbu Thirai album is mix of melodies and theme based songs that will work better with visuals"
Release
It is dubbed into Telugu as Abhimanyudu which was released on 1 June 2018. It is also dubbed into Hindi as The Return of Abhimanyu which is released by Goldmines Telefilms in 2019. The satellite rights of the film were sold to Zee Tamil.
Box office
Tamil Nadu theatrical rights of the film were sold for 14.5 crore. The film grossed at the worldwide box office and became a blockbuster.