‘Thammudu’ Movie Review: Nithiin’s Action Drama Is A Jarring Misfire

One can discern the kind of film Thammudu might shape up to be quite early on. Nithiin is Jay, a budding archer vying to hit gold. His best friend and companion, Chitra (Varsha Bollama), has just won a prestigious award for her startup. A few seconds into her speech — it’s important to note that we’ve barely registered a word of her award-winning company by this point — she thanks Jay because, years ago, he helped rehome her after an incident of sexual assault as a child. And just like that, the award is aptly forgotten, and so is Chitra. It’s the kind that not only forgets every character in its midst, but also one that prompts us to remember only the hero it deifies selectively.

There’s no hiding the fact that Thammudu is a standard boilerplate action film. It begins with a gas leak tragedy, leading to an outcry from grieving parents who want to hold the corporate goons accountable. The goon, in turn, tries to grease the hands of government officials to pass this off as an accident. When that doesn’t work, he resorts to maniacal violence. The problem with Thammudu is not just the fact that it works with a generic story that’s as old as the hills. Its treatment is no fresher than its material. So we have long stretches of the goon (Saurabh Sachdeva with a disturbing hearing disability) planning diabolical attacks on the good people led by Jhansi (Laya), Jay saving children and women singlehandedly — we mean that quite literally as he is in a cast for a good chunk of the film — and Jay breaking into a song just to calm a child’s anxiety in the middle of a life-threatening coup (because why not?).

Laya and Nithiin in a still from 'Thammudu'

The film bends every piece of reality to suit its bloated vision. For instance, much of Thammudu is set in Ambaragodugu, a lawless region which is ruled by tribes that are depicted to be bought off quite easily (no regard for progressive politics here). There is an interesting idea somewhere in a film that revolves around a promise. A brother wants to help his sister keep up her promise, to redeem himself for breaking hers years ago. But the writing behind these characters hardly holds up. For instance, much of the film revolves around a sister who has sworn off her brother, just because he reminds her of her past lover. And a woman remembering that she had a life before her marriage is blasphemous according to Thammudu. “I don’t want to lose my character,” she says, chipping away at any interest her character initially managed to create.

Sapthami Gowda plays an interesting role in the film, as far-fetched as it might seem. She is Ratna, an emergency helper and the town’s on-call 911, who provides help and some lightness in the film. But again, the problem with Thammudu is that it employs women to fight and fend for themselves in the most ridiculously exaggerated situations, perhaps half-expecting us to pat its back for its empowerment of women. But putting women in traditionally allotted male roles is not going to solve anything if the writing is still stuck in antiquity.

Sapthami Gowda in a still from 'Thammudu'

There’s no room for subtleties in the film. If Jay is compared to Arjuna, you best believe there will be a scene in which he wields his bow. He wants to put India on the map and win the gold medal. So we get a shot of his jersey, which readily signifies his thoughts — it reads “Jai (Ind)” referring to India. We see a very pregnant woman stuck in this hellfire type situation in the beginning, so that can only mean we’re headed for a labour in the woods. 

Ajaneesh Loknath tries his best to salvage the situation with a memorable score that often matches K.V Guhan, Sameer Reddy, and Setu’s vision for camerawork. But the question remains: is anything salvageable?