FIR (2022 film)

FIR: Faizal Ibrahim Raiz is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film written and directed by Manu Anand in his directorial debut and produced by Vishnu Vishal, Shubhra and Aryan Ramesh under the banner of VV Studioz. The film features Vishnu Vishal,[3] Gautham Vasudev Menon, Manjima Mohan, Reba Monica John, Raiza Wilson and Gaurav Narayanan.

FIR
Theatrical release poster
Directed byManu Anand
Written byManu Anand
Divyanka Anand Shankar
Gowtham Sankar Kavanat
Story byManu Anand
Produced byVishnu Vishal
Shubhra
Aryan Ramesh
StarringVishnu Vishal
Gautham Vasudev Menon
Reba Monica John
Manjima Mohan
Raiza Wilson
CinematographyArul Vincent
Edited byPrasanna GK
Music byAshwath
Production
company
Distributed byRed Giant Movies
Release date
  • 11 February 2022 (2022-02-11) (India)
Running time
155 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil
Box officeest.₹24 crore[2]

The music is composed by Ashwath and editing by Prasanna GK. The film was released theatrically on 11 February 2022, where it received positive reviews from critics and became an critical and commercial success.[4]

Plot

Irfan Ahmed, an IIT Madras gold medalist based in Triplicane, Chennai, lives with his friends and mother, Praveena Begum, a Sub-Inspector of Police. He is in a relationship with Archana Krishnamoorthy, who is doing her Ph.D. in Delhi, and also befriends a junior lawyer, Prathana Raman. Irfan unsuccessfully attends job interviews, while working part-time with a perfume factory. Tired of being questioned on his religious beliefs during interviews, Irfan decides to join a full-time perfume business, which is headed by Perumal and his son, Karthikeyan. He visits various locations in the country to shop for chemicals. On his way back from Hyderabad, Irfan loses his cellphone.

Frustrated that he might miss his flight to Chennai, Irfan mistakenly threatens the airport officials that he will bomb Hyderabad, which leads to his arrest, but is released and reaches Chennai. Later, a bomb explodes at the same airport, killing many people. The next day, Irfan's phone is found at the bomb blast site, and Irfan is arrested, yet again. He is detained under the orders of NIA advisor, Ajay Dewan. He is interrogated by NIA officer, Anisha Qureshi, and low-ranking police officer, Gunashekhar. Irfan is believed to be the most wanted terrorist, dubbed Abu Bakr Abdullah. As a result, he is branded as a terrorist and portrayed as the evil incarnate by the media, and undergoes torture under police custody.

Feeling sorry for Irfan, Prathana decides to represent him and brings Praveena Begum to see him. However, they are denied to visit Irfan. Being an asthmatic patient, Praveena collapses from an attack, due to the humiliation stemming from the public prosecution. Irfan is granted to visit his mother in the hospital, under extreme surveillance of the police. However, he escapes from police custody and finds that Praveena Begum has died, leaving Irfan devastated and escaping from the hospital, where he is met by Dr. Zazi's son Riyaz, who convinces and motivates Irfan to create a sarin gas, to pull off a terrorist attack. Irfan does so, which is eventually tested on Dr. Zazi, when he visits the factory and is shocked to see what was going on.

Anisha reaches there and surrounds Irfan and Riyaz, but is stabbed by Karthikeyan, who is revealed to be the real Abu Bakr Abdullah. When the bomb is activated, Abu Bakr activates the bomb and tells his henchman to kill Irfan, as he has no use of him, but Irfan overpowers and kills the henchman, where it is revealed that Irfan is actually an undercover NIA agent and waited for years to draw Abu Bakr out of hiding. Archana, who is also an undercover NIA agent, arrives at the factory and finishes off Riyaz, while Irfan kills Abu Bakr. Gunashekhar and the cops surround the factory, under the orders of Ajay Dewan. After getting permission from the Defense Minister, a government-sanctioned drone, fires a military missile to the factory.

Archana tries to persuade Irfan to leave the factory, as it is about to be destroyed. However, he refuses, as he wants to stop the activation of the sarin gas. The factory is destroyed by the missile, seemingly killing Irfan. Ajay Dewan is congratulated for preventing the gas attack. It is revealed that the whole operation was planned by Ajay Dewan, which was only known to very few people. He found an officer with a chemical engineering background and named him Irfan Ahmed, erasing his past life. With the help of Archana, Irfan eliminates Abu Bakr's chemical engineer Ashraf, in order to lure Abu Bakr to India. It is also revealed that Irfan actually escaped from the missile strike of the factory and is on another mission, where his real name is revealed to be Faizal Ibrahim Raiz (FIR).

Cast
  • Vishnu Vishal as Irfan Ahmed / Faizal Ibrahim Raiz (FIR) a chemical engineer
  • Gautham Vasudev Menon as Ajay Dewan[5]
  • Manjima Mohan as Prathana Raman[6]
  • Raiza Wilson as Anisha Qureshi[7]
  • Reba Monica John as Archana Krishnamoorthy
  • Parvathi T. as Praveena Begum
  • Gaurav Narayanan as Suraj[8]
  • Ram C as Karthikeyan / Abu Bakkar Abdullah
  • Abishek Joseph George as Riyaz
  • Jay Adithya as Ajay Dewan's son
  • Chandru BCS as Aravind Guruswamy
  • Praveen Muthurangan as Gunashekar Kolliyapan
  • R. N. R. Manohar as Perumal, Karthikeyan’s father
  • Prashanth Rangaswamy as Thirukumaram aka @itiskumaran
  • Vignesh Vijayan as Prasad, Irfan’s friend
  • R. Shyam as Vivek Kumar, Irfan’s friend
  • Amaan as Dr.Ahmed Zazi

Production

The film started with its principal photography in October 2019 and the shooting for the same started in December 2019. The shooting was wrapped up by February 2021 and moved into post-production then.[9] It was banned in Malaysia, Qatar and Kuwait.

Music

The songs of the film are composed by Ashwath. The music label of the film were acquired by VV Studioz and Divo Music[10]

Tracklist
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Vizhiyile"Bagavathy PKSathyaprakash, Mahita Mahesh, Suganth Shekar4:34
2."Payanam"Bagavathy PKAbhay Jodhpurkar4:38
3."Anthem of Harmony"Mashook RahmanNaresh Iyer3:05
4."FIR - Theme Song"L Karunakaran, Christopher Stanley, MobinSilambarasan TR, Christopher Stanley4:00
5."Yah Allah"Mashook RahmanDeepak Blue, Vishnu Vishal, Sugandh Shekar3:50
Total length:20:04

Release

Theatrical

The film was released theatrically on 11 February 2022.[11]

Home Media

The digital streaming and satellite rights were bought by Amazon Prime Video and Vijay TV.[12][13]

Reception

Critical response

M Suganth of The Times of India gave 3 out of 5 and wrote "Thankfully, the rapid editing (GK Prasanna) and the pulsating background score (by Ashwath) ensure that the film manages to move at a breakneck pace, and manage to stop us from thinking about logic and help the film keep us engaged."[14] Indiaglitz gave the film’s rating 3 out of 5 and stated that "Go for this action packed thriller with a few interesting twists and turns."[15] Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "FIR lacks the maturity of Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam. The lack of nuance in properly establishing the islamophobia, misunderstanding suffered by different communities and politics behind intensifying polarization have been left out from the movie for the convenience of the narration."[16]

Behindwoods gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Vishnu Vishal's acting, the solid writing makes FIR a gripping and engaging watch."[17] Srinivasan Ramanujam of The Hindu wrote after reviewing the film that "Despite being a thriller, FIR also manages to throw in some powerful moments, but could have done well to avoid some unnecessary over the-top elements that seem to dilute its core premise in the first place."[18] Navein Darshan of Cinema Express gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Debutant Manu Anand sets the bar so high with a lot of interesting elements like these that when inconveniences come in the form of forced comedy and loopholes it almost feels criminal. I would hate to analyse a film based on the pre and post-intermission halves, but in FIR, the difference is so jarring that you can't help yourself from missing the highly tactful writing of the first half in the latter."[19]

Haricharan Pudipeddi of Hindustan Times wrote "FIR has some smart, well-written twists for a thriller. As the twists untangle themselves in the end, the film feels more complete."[20] Bhavana Sharma of Pinkvilla gave 2.5 out of 5 and wrote "On the whole, this film is worth watching this weekend. You should stop looking and asking for logic and then just engage yourself in the tale."[21] Ashameera Aiyappan of Firstpost gave the film 2.5 out of 5 and stated "FIR has its heart in the right place. And the questions it asks are incredibly pertinent. Irfan begins to retaliate only when he is forced to the corner. And when he says that he is done trusting the system and its judiciary -- the emotion hits home. After all, we live in dystopian times where minorities are consistently pushed away from the doors of justice. But good intentions don’t always make for good cinema."[22]

Box office

According to reports from Times of India, the film had a biggest opening and grossed more than 8 crores at the Tamil Nadu box office.[23] The film grossed over ₹24 crore (equivalent to ₹25 crore or US$3.2 million in 2023) and became one of the highest grossing Tamil films of the year.[2]

References
  1. "Certificate Detail". Central Board of Film Certification.
  2. "'F.I.R' box office collection: Vishnu Vishal's thriller drama grosses more than its budget within a week". The Times of India.
  3. "Vishnu Vishal starts dubbing for FIR with safety precautions". The Times of India. Vishnu Vishal's first time putting for box office. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  4. "Udhayanidhi To Release Vishnu Vishal's Long-Delayed FIR on Feb 11". News18. 1 February 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  5. Suganth, M (27 December 2019). "Gautham Menon to play a complex character in FIR". The Times of India. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  6. "Vishnu Vishal reveals Manjima has done great work in FIR". The Times of India. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  7. "Raiza Wilson wraps up her portions of FIR". The Times of India. 27 December 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  8. "Director Gaurav joins the cast of Vishnu Vishal's FIR". The Times of India. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  9. "Shooting for Vishnu Vishal's FIR completed". Cinema Express. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  10. "Vishnu Vishal's FIR banned in Malaysia, Kuwait and Qatar". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  11. "Vishnu Vishal's 'FIR' to release on February 11". The Times of India.
  12. "FIR OTT Rights Bagged By Amazon Prime Video!".
  13. "Vishnu Vishal's FIR to premiere on television". The Times of India.
  14. Suganth, M. "FIR Movie Review : FIR is an effective, fast-paced thriller". The Times of India.
  15. "FIR Review".
  16. "FIR review: Vishnu Vishal's heart is in the right place but this spy thriller lacks maturity". 11 February 2022.
  17. "FIR MOVIE REVIEW". 11 February 2022.
  18. Ramanujam, Srinivasa (10 February 2022). "'FIR' movie review: Vishnu Vishal stars in a fast-paced, taut thriller". The Hindu.
  19. "FIR Movie Review: A punchy thriller that gets watered down by convenient writing". Cinema Express.
  20. "FIR review: Vishnu Vishal's film is a taut thriller with smart twists". 11 February 2022.
  21. "FIR Movie Review: A smart thriller with unpredictable twists and turns". 11 February 2022.
  22. "FIR movie review: Vishnu Vishal film caters to promising ideas but through a middling plotline". 11 February 2022.
  23. "'F.I.R' box office collection: Vishnu Vishal's thriller drama grosses more than its budget within a week". The Times of India. 18 February 2022.
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