‘Sirai’ movie review: Vikram Prabhu’s cop secures a neat, engaging thriller drama

What do you think happens to a cop on escort duty if the convict in his care escapes enroute to court or prison? Some punishment of some sort, right? Within a few minutes into the latest Vikram Prabhu-starrer Sirai, you are matter-of-factly informed of IPC Section 129, which states that the said cop might face imprisonment of up to three years. And just like that, this detail is planted like a ticking time bomb in the minds of the audience. What follows is a fantastic setup for a neat suspense thriller, and the sheer amount of details you get of life as an escort cop should remind you that this is a film written by Tamizh, the cop-turned-writer-director best known for Vikram Prabhu’s excellent cop drama, Taanakkaran. Like in that 2022 film, Tamizh once again takes an incisive peek into an authoritarian system that threatens to swallow you whole — it’s a colonial machine where honest cops like Head Constable Kathiravan (Vikram) and an accused like Abdul Rauf (LK Akshay Kumar) are mere disposable cogs.

Vikram Prabhu in a still from ‘Sirai’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The year is 2003. A cheery montage song glimpses at Kathiravan’s life with his wife, fellow cop Mariyam (Ananda Thambirajah), and their children. Work has been tense; he is an escort cop facing an investigation into an encounter. As fate would have it, he, to let a colleague tend to his ailing mother, agrees to escort a murder accused, Abdul, from the Vellore prison to the Madurai prison. From the moment we meet him, Abdul looks jittery, keenly watching out for opportunities to flee. And he finds quite a few gaps, owing to the gaps in the guard of the two constables working with Kathiravan. Will Abdul manage to escape? Firstly, why does he wish to escape, and whom did he kill to end up in prison? Will Kathiravan face the wrath of the force? These are the questions that Sirai answers over a taut two-hour runtime.

Imbued with an atmosphere suitable for such a suspense thriller, Sirai holds your attention effortlessly. It’s a no-frills plotline that uses elements in its backdrop to their best, and what truly surprises one is its ambition. Even with such a minimal structure, writer Tamizh and director Suresh Rajakumari find many moments to make sharp statements against religious bigotry. Like Kathiravan and cops, Abdul’s quest begins to turn a mirror on the audience and question how we, too, tend to jump to conclusions about some.

In a scene in Taanakkaran, MS Bhaskar’s character tells a fable about why a guard stands next to a specific tree in that police training academy; Tamizh conveys so much about the system through that microverse, a quality we also see in Sirai. Names, in this world as ours, become a social identity card, revealing who belongs where in the social ladder sanctimoniously held upright by divisive forces (it’s hard not to draw a parallel on this front between a character here and one in Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound). The strongest stretch in Sirai begins with a whistle-worthy scene revolving around a loaded rifle and ends with a hat-tip to a Tamil Eelam martyr. The acting in this sequence is top-notch, and Suresh deserves credit for the terrific staging in many of these scenes.

However, the immersion into the world dips post this sequence, when we continue to follow Anishma Anilkumar’s character Kalaiyarasi (it’s best if you don’t know any details about her). A specific antagonist turns quite caricaturish, and the film begins to veer towards shallow melodrama, but thanks to the short runtime, these scenes don’t overstay their welcome. Further, in a surprising turn of events, Sirai pulls out yet another trump card in the final stretch of the film. Tamizh makes an astute cut into the social fabric of our times, to speak about the plight of Muslims in a divided nation, and a deep-seated bias that hinders many constitutional rights. From a single frame that upholds the constitutional principle of secularism to a subtle callback to a bar of soap, there’s plenty that makes you smile.

Vikram Prabhu, LK Akshay Kumar and Anishma Anilkumar in a still from ‘Sirai’
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

A climactic subversion in the tale is bound to become a talking point. It reminded me of something another Tamil film from this year, Maayakoothu, stated: fictional characters, good or bad, deserve their narrative justice as they are reflections of real-life counterparts, and a creator who plays god must responsibly offer these creations their narrative justice, especially since it seems like the creator of our reality seems incapable of any such kindness. Sirai not only offers this narrative justice to its characters, but it also does so effectively without compromising on the film-viewing experience.

It’s also nice to see Vikram Prabhu shine in his performance. With Love Marriage and now Sirai, the actor is signalling a commendable return to form. However, the real surprise in Sirai is the performances of newcomers Akshay and Anishma; the latter leaves an impression even with the limited screentime she gets, and Akshay, the son of the film’s producer SS Lalit Kumar, brims with potential.

Sirai may not make it to many year-end lists on Tamil cinema, but that isn’t to undermine its potential at any cost. It is precisely the kind of writer-fronted gems Tamil cinema needs more of. It is also the kind of hopeful cinema Indian society desperately needs to champion.

Sirai releases in theatres on December 25, Thursday

Published – December 24, 2025 10:48 pm IST