Sirai (2025) – My Flash Review!

In Malayalam, Director-turned-writer Shahi Kabir is renowned for writing police procedural films that are highly realistic, with meticulous attention to detail. You can see this in his films such as Joseph, Ronth, and Ela Veezha Poonchira. In Tamil, the director/writer Tamizh, who was a cop in his past life, does the same. The story of this film, Sirai, was conceived by Tamizh, and he co-wrote the screenplay with Suresh Rajakumari, who also directed the film.

The result is that Sirai is extremely raw, real, and rooted to the ground. It depicts events at a police station in Tamil Nadu very realistically, without any glitz or glamour. The film’s male lead is a constable, played by Vikram Prabhu. Among his other duties, we see him escorting convicts from one place to another for judicial hearings. We get to see the entire detailing of how the documentation is prepared for such travels and how pitiable the conditions are in which these events take place in real life. The film is set in a time when mobile phones were of the keypad type.

However, the police, the police station, and the detailed police procedurals are merely backdrops for what is a poignant love story. That too is an interfaith love affair between a Muslim boy and a Hindu girl, adding to the complexity. The Director and the writer do not miss a single opportunity to drive home the point that Muslims are being targeted and forced into a silent minority. While this point is debatable, what is surprising is the depiction of this in a state like Tamil Nadu, which claims to be different from other parts of India in matters of religious tolerance.

That said, the screenplay is interestingly woven, with this aspect lurking in the background at every stage. What sets the screenplay apart is the way individual characters are conceived and written. The characterisation is not just about the main characters, such as Vikram, but also about his two assistants, the girl’s elder sister, the boy’s mother, and so on. They all have an opportunity, even if only in small bits, to leave an impact.

Vikram Prabhu is honest in his portrayal of a constable with his heart in the right place. In his introductory scene, he is portrayed as heroic, but that portrayal ends there. The rest of the movie focuses on how he deals with situations that arise primarily due to the negligence of his colleagues or the apathy of the system. Akshay Kumar, as Abdul Rauf, is brilliant and reminded me of Adarsh Gaurav in The White Tiger. His transformation in body language when he senses he will be released soon is brilliant. Anishma, as the female lead, pitches her performance just right. The rest of the cast plays their parts to perfection, including the Davali (the orderly in the court who makes all the announcements).

Justin Prabakaran’s background score is evocative and intended to be foreboding. For example, the frequent use of the “Urumi” to heighten tension whenever there was an opportunity for the convict to escape is interesting. In the songs, Ilaiyaraaja’s imprint is unmistakable, and they are well-suited to the situations. At less than 2 hours, the film is sharply edited while retaining the essence of the scenes. The portrayal of domestic violence is excessive, but that seems to be the order of the day. For his directorial debut, Suresh impresses by keeping things real and avoiding the massy trap. In fact, he makes us sit up right from the first action sequence, which is finely choreographed. When the cops escort a prisoner and take him on a bus for an overnight trip, it is the cops who catch a nice sleep while the convict stays wide awake. Similarly, the constable tips, or rather bribes, the orderly in the court to call their case early, which is also inside the court premises. The film is full of interesting detailing of ironies like these.

For a love story, the film title Sirai is a contrarian choice. But you will understand the context when you watch the film. Sirai is very unlike a Tamil film. It is modest in its budget. It keeps the proceedings extremely real. It shuns all the trappings of a mass film. It focuses single-mindedly on the storyline and, more importantly, on the screenplay and writing to deliver a high-quality film. In short, it ticks off all the boxes of a typical Malayalam cop procedural film. I would recommend it as a “Must watch”. Sirai is streaming on Zee5.