Rajavukku Check means Check Mate in Tamil and I managed to catch up watching this action thriller Tamil movie starring Cheran recently. WARNING ahead – this is not a movie to watch with the whole family. Movie poster source: IndiaGlitz
The lock down has unfortunately confined us to our homes with little things to do unless you are very creative and make the best of the lock down. Well, I myself have been putting away the time to do some good cardio pumping exercise. I know it is very bad and I need to move around otherwise I am going to put on another 5-10 kilo of weight. I need to be more disciplined and starting moving before 28th April lock down ends.
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I also have been putting aside repairing some of the household items – something I did not do as I did not have enough free time. But I have the free time but my concern is if I need something to buy for my DIY, I can’t go out to the hardware shop. I don’t want to leave things done half way. Another DIY pending requires the kitchen sink to be left unused for at least 1 day but with the lock down, kitchen is rarely quiet.
The plot of Rajavukku Check is not something unique – we have seen it many times in other Tamil movies. The good policeman arrests some bad guys who swear revenge on the policeman and his family. They may kidnap some close member of the family of the policeman and then lead the policeman on a cat & mouse chase around the city to find the kidnapped family members and rescue them.
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In Rajavukku Check, there was a twist on how the revenge was taken. Cheran plays an alcoholic cop who also has Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, a rare medical condition that makes him sleep for weeks or even months. This medical problem causes his wife to apply for divorce and plans to leave the country with his daughter for higher education. He agrees on the divorce but requests the court to allow his daughter to be with him for the next ten days before she leaves overseas.
During these 10 years, four rich teenage criminals lure & kidnap his daughter and cunningly sketch a plan to sexually abuse her. This is played out on a video left by the leader of the criminal and soon Cheran recognised the criminals. They were the same gang who a few years ago kidnapped a model and tried to rape her. However Cheran managed to rescue her and arrest these criminal in time. And to ensure they are locked away for at least a year, he gets them charged with false drug charges.
Now his daughter, heavily sedated is in the hands of these criminals who now using her to take revenge on Cheran. Given their background from rich families, they know that it is a matter of time before the police find out their hidden location and arrest them. They are prepared to be locked away for their crimes but not before taking revenge on Cheran – leaving him on the last memories of his tortured & probably dead daughter.
(Scene where Cheran leaving clues to his police team to crack the situation he is in and four criminals preparing to drug his daughter with Cheran forced to watch it without realising Cheran is making his move)
The twist is that Cheran needs to be in his house and see what happens to his daughter via live feed and he cannot alert his police colleagues. And yet, he needs to think creatively to save his daughter from this gang and also to arrest this gang before they do the same to other girls.
The last time we saw Cheran was when he participated in Big Boss Season 3 and he always has been a great actor and a good writer. His famed Autograph speaks a lot on his story telling talents and his acting his Mysskin’s Yuddham Sei is a level up.
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Now in Rajavukku Check, he does well of a tortured father of kidnapped daughter and who is angry, disappointed and frustrated policeman who will do anything to rescue and arrest the criminals. The plus point of the movie is indeed Cheran.
However nothing is perfect – there are some plot holes but attention wise, there are some moments well executed to keep the viewers on the edge. The first half of the movie was a bit too long – the director could have cut to the chase and focussed on the time when the criminals started their revenge and then focussed on how the police cracked the case and rescued his daughter.
The other part where the criminals were hiding underground in the ending scene did not make any sense. Were they decided that would be their final tomb? And how the kidnapped model escaped to alert the police?
And in the end, the frustration builds up and Cheran did what we had been waiting to do on the 4 criminals from the start of them kidnapping the daughter.
However in view of string of dumb Tamil movies lately, Rajavukku Check is not a bad movie to watch and Cheran on his own held the attention well. Compare this with high starred pure crap movies like Kadaram Kondan which came was released in 2019 & acted by Vikram & produced by Kamal Haasan but was banned in Malaysia for the obvious reasons.