Though K.Balachander focused on movies revolving around relationships and emotions as director, he has produced a variety of films, including masala films, under the Kavithalaya banner. Still, it is difficult to see the prestigious banner join hands with a director like Perarasu, who leads the movement to send Tamil cinema back to the stone ages. Perarasu, for his part, does nothing different, delivering another hero-centric action flick with some romance and sentiments thrown in.

Easwaran(Arjun) runs a cable TV channel in Kumbakonam. With his good samaritan activities, he makes two enemies - Poongundran(Saikumar), the local MLA and Koattai, a rowdy who is in jail. Poongundran's rage against Easwaran increases during the run-up to the elections and once he wins, he vows to teach Easwaran a lesson. Easwaran's mother, who fears for her son's life, hears of a holy man, who is supposed to be able to make people change and takes Easwaran to Thiruvannamalai to meet him. But a surprise is in store for mom and son when they meet Guruji.

With Arjun helping the locals, fighting a local, corrupt politician, romancing Pooja and earning the enmity of a rowdy, Thiruvannamalai kicks off in a distressingly predictable manner. Songs(a introduction group song for Arjun, a couple of duets) and fights(with an assortment of rowdies trying to browbeat a girl into not marrying her lover) dot the proceedings as always. There are a few surprises(like the way Arjun engineers an opponent for Saikumar in the election) but the rest of the events are familiar to anyone who has watched a few poorly-made masala movies.

The movie has a good surprise in store when Arjun goes to Thiruvannamalai. It is quite unexpected and the conversation, between Arjun and Guruji, about the necessity and futility of violence, is quite interesting and raises some good points. While the subsequent deal that is made is illogical, impossible and even morally wrong, it admittedly does create an interesting scenario that refuels our interest in the film.

The screenplay does exploit the scenario well for a certain while. While the deal isn't exactly fair since one man has to deal with the repercussions of another man's actions while trying to prove his philosophy, the bottled-up tensions create some excitement. As we see Arjun pushed to the limit, we keep waiting for the breaking point that we know is coming. And the way he deals with some situations, while keeping his word, are interesting. But the script goes completely haywire after this. Rules are broken and things become confusing as action takes centerstage.

Arjun keeps his 'Action King' tag intact with another usual role. Pooja Gandhi looks a lot like Vidya Balan and like most heroines, shows up for the duets. Saikumar screams his way through the role like the villain in all Perarasu movies. Perarasu makes us admire his persistence(and thick skin!) as, inspite of all the criticism he received for his appearance in previous movies, he again shows up onscreen - this time as a doctor - for another stiff performance with a grand entrance and punch dialogs.