The Art of War) is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language thriller film directed by Vignesh Raja in his directorial debut and written by Alfred Prakash.
The film stars R. Sarathkumar, Ashok Selvan and Nikhila Vimal, with Sarath Babu, Nizhalgal Ravi, Sunil Sukhada and Santhosh Keezhattoor in supporting roles.
The music was composed by Jakes Bejoy, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Kalaiselvan Sivaji and Sreejith Sarang.
Por Thozhil was released theatrically on 9 June 2023 to positive reviews from critics and became a commercial success at the box office.
From Chennai, the trio set off to Tiruchirappalli to investigate the gruesome murder of a young girl in deep woods.
The doctor concludes that the victim was strangulated from the front with an iron wire, kneeling, with her hair pulled back and tied to the hand.
A hematoma on her neck reveals that the victim was knocked at specific pressure points on her to make her unconscious, following which she was kidnapped.
As predicted, a few more young women are killed in the same manner and their corpses are left in the woods with one of them being the daughter of a police constable.
In disguise, Loganathan visits the house of Inspector John Sebastian as his acquaintance, who investigated the initial murders in the 1970s, while Prakash visits the district library to find out the patrons who read books on pressure points as books must have been the only source of knowledge for pressure points back in 1970s for a layman.
To find substantial evidence, Prakash also takes the nearby house for rent to spy on Kennedy in close proximity.
Kennedy's father John was a pedant, alcoholic and abusive man who always beat him to keep things clean, neat and organised and always expected perfection from him in everything.
He pushes Prakash and Loganathan from the room, locks himself up, turns on the gas cylinder, resulting in an explosion in which he dies instantly so that Freddy can receive insurance money.
They are alerted to Muthu Selvan's location by the sudden flight of a flock of birds which get disturbed and rush to save Veena.
Prakash taunts him and he gives in by throwing the pistol at him, who catches it and releases the jam, shooting Muthu Selvan in his eye.
[12] Thinkal Menon of OTTPlay gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The film has a tightly-woven screenplay that aids in offering edge-of-the-seat moments, but the manner in which the investigation unfolds doesn't boast of novelty.
"[13] Janani K of India Today gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Por Thozhil is one of the most interesting thrillers in recent times.
"[14] Kirubhakar Purushothaman of The Indian Express gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Despite following all the tropes of a buddy cop movie, debutant Vignesh Raja has come up with an enjoyable genre film that manages to hold your attention throughout.
"[4] Gopinath Rajendran of The Hindu wrote, "Debutant director Vignesh Raja has pulled off a phenomenal job, making the minor mishaps almost feel like a product of nitpicking.
"[15] Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute gave it 4 out of 5 stars, noting the message of the film is "subtle and allows us to arrive at the realization instead of drilling it into our brains.