Thirumalai sees director Ramana working within two big limitations. He has an age-old poor boy-rich girl love story in hand and has to contend with Vijay's mass image. Considering these restrictions, he has done a commendable job. By fashioning the hero's character a little differently and designing a fast screenplay that contains several stock situations but resolves them differently, he overcomes those negatives to deliver an entertaining feature.

Thirumalai(Vijay), a mechanic, falls in love with Sweta(Jyothika) and after some persistent wooing, she reciprocates his feelings. Sweta's father(Ashwin), the owner of a television channel, seeks the help of Arasu(Manoj.K.Jayan), a dada, to break up the romance.

In a way, Thirumalai illustrates the importance of characterization and screenplay to a movie. It has exactly the same story as the recent Ragasiyamaai. But while the latter was entirely predictable and cliched, this movie manages to avoid those characteristics through Vijay's characterization, a strong script and a well-paced screenplay.

After Vijay falls in love with Jyothika after seeing her just once, we are ready for a regular love story with Vijay wooing Jyothika and she falling in love with him after awhile. Though the end result is the same, the route the director adopts to achieve the same is not entirely familiar. His speech to her when she comes to see him at his shop and when he visits her at her college, and his response when she unconvincingly expresses her love for him are all marked by strong dialogs and give Vijay's character a nice shape. His trip to her house and conversation with her father are also interesting scenes that are handled well.

The movie contains several scenes intended mainly to project a heroic Vijay and please his fans. But unlike some of his other movies which have also contained several such scenes, the sequences here do not turn off the common viewer. They are picturised well and include some sensible dialogs apart from the expected self-buildup. The scene where he manages to stop his friend's lover's marriage is one such scene. All his encounters with Manoj.K.Jayan fall into this category too. But the climax is a letdown and anticlimactic since it includes the villain(s) having a change of heart.

Vijay has chosen a role that falls within his limited range and carries it off well. As expected, he shines in the dance and fight sequences(with the dance with Lawrence taking the top spot). Jyothika looks a little old but that seems more a mistake with her make-up. Raghuvaran and Kausalya make a nice couple though they eventually don't have much to do. Vivek raises a few laughs with a separate comedy track while Karunas doesn't have the same success while tagging along with Vijay. Vidyasagar comes up with his usual mix of melodious and fast songs. Azhagooril... is pleasing to the ears while the fast beats in Thaamthaka... help in extracting from fast steps from Vijay and Lawrence. Dhimsukattai... is a catchy number.