Unnaipol Oruvan

Chakri Toleti's 2009 Tamil film is a remake of the 2008 Hindi film A Wednesday! An anonymous man says he has planted bombs in Chennai and demands the release of four terrorists; the police commissioner tries to find him. The story takes place almost entirely across phone calls and inside the police headquarters. Kamal Haasan both stars and produces, and his encounters with the commissioner played by Mohanlal carry the entire tension. The two appearing together for the first time was an event for South Indian audiences. The film was shot simultaneously in Telugu. Its moral claim is contested: the ending, which legitimises an ordinary citizen carrying out extrajudicial killing, was criticised here as it was in the original. Who it's for: viewers interested in South Indian thrillers and in the meeting of Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal. Who it's not for: anyone troubled by the legitimising of extrajudicial killing, or who has seen the original and will compare.