Midway through the film, the narrative also tries a balancing act by also showing us the psyche and struggles of the cops as well. Stuck at the border of an Andhra Pradesh forest, the painful search for Appu has you empathising with both groups. It is here that Elango Kumaravel as cop Murugesan gets a wonderful role to play. While he helps the police track down the Naxals, he is against the wrongdoings of the cops and is worried about Appu. When another officer feels the same way, Murugesan says, “Namma elaar kullayum oru manushan irukan/ At the end of the day, there is some humanity left in all of us. So, we are worried about him. But when humanity occasionally comes out, we usually subdue it.”
Although a few scenes are lacking in emotional beats, the music by Javed Riaz and the powerful lyrics by Karthik Netha and Vishnu Edavan more than make up for it. While the dialogues lead up to the classic revolution scenes, the performance of actors, close-up shots and the songs move you during the later parts of the film. In his first film as a lead, Kanna Ravi as Appu, carries the entire film on his shoulders. When he faces the worst parts of his life, you have a fire burning in his eyes, and there is so much it conveys. If there is a scene that depicts the essence of Rathasaatchi, it is this: “Ena oru kannu, eeral ah kuthi kodanjite iruku” (His eyes are so powerful that my gut is throbbing),” a police officer says. And when the film ends, that’s what you will remember – the eternal fire in his eyes to fight.