Four times in a row, director Raja has given us Telugu remakes that were both entertaining and commercially successful. He was so consistently successful because he selected movies that had stories that were based on universal emotions and heroes whose roles played to his brother 'Jayam' Ravi's strengths. But he has faltered on both counts in his latest film Thillaalangadi, which is based on another Telugu hit Kick. While the story is too haphazard, Ravi is completely unsuited for the hero's role, making the film an illogical bore.

Nisha(Tamannah), who lives in Malaysia, after some prodding from her parents, meets her suitor Krishnakumar(Shaam), a cop. Before long, she is telling him about her ex-boyfriend Krishna('Jayam' Ravi), who never did anything unless he got a kick out of it. But when his pursuit of thrills got out of hand, she broke up with him and hasn't seen him since. Krishnakumar, for his part, reveals that he was in Malaysia chasing after a thief who gave him the slip in Chennai. Little do they know that they are both talking about the same person.

A guy who lives on the edge and goes searching for trouble for the sake of thrills is an interesting character that gives even routine acts, like conducting the wedding of a friend who is on the run from the girl's family, a little bit of reason and logic. That character, alongwith the comedy, which sees Vadivelu mistakenly assume that Tamannah is in love with him and get in trouble with various people as a result of that, moves the romance along. Ironically though, the romance's best moment is its end as Ravi's nature and Tamannah's disappointment create a believable issue.

Raja's films so far hinged on romance and sentiments with the action limited to a few stunt sequences that didn't add much to the story. But action is a major component of the story here and he proves to be woefully incapable of presenting it involvingly. Shaam's flashback is supposed to introduce us to a skilful, clever thief and a charismatic cop hot on his trail(kinda like the two protagonists in Dhoom and Dhoom 2). Instead, the thief's heists are silly and amateurish and Shaam's pursuit of him makes it seem like the two are playing a 'Cops and Robbers' game.

The screenplay gets convoluted and outlandish once the action moves to Malaysia. Whether its Ravi's game(act as is he has lost his memory), Santhanam's character(a mental patient who thinks he is a doctor), Tamannah's plan(act as though she is in love to get Ravi to regain his memory and then dump him again) or Vadivelu's reintroduction under a lame pretext, everyone seems dumb and everything feels plain ridiculous. The plot points used to move the story forward or explain things are outrageous.

The lead-in the climax builds things up well. Ravi's preparation and challenge to Shaam and Shaam's reply raise the excitement and anticipation well. But everything comes crashing down at the end. The so-called heist is unbelievable and is presented in a way that makes it difficult to even understand what exactly happened.

One never thought that 'Jayam' Ravi could be as irritating as someone like S.J.Suryah but he achieves that here. He's just unable to pull off the energetic, hyperactive character and gets on our nerves with his expressions, antics and dialog delivery. Tamannah is quite animated herself but looks like the picture of restraint next to Ravi. Shaam looks the part of the cop but his character is written too carelessly for us to take him seriously. Vadivelu and Santhanam indulge in their usual shtick while Prabhu and Suhasini are wasted in minor roles. Solpechu Kekkaadha... is a visual delight. With multiple Ravis and Tamannahs but still looking like it is a single unbroken shot, it is nicely visualized and executed. Pootta Paathadhum... also works well in the background for Ravi's action sequences. Pattu Pattu... features some nice sets and choreography while Ding Ding... has some nice locales but poor choreography.