Suggested Topics :
'Thudarum' Movie Review: Mohanlal For All Seasons in a Satisfying, Primal Thriller
It may not be all that it promised to be, but with solid performances from Prakash Varma playing the relentless villain, and the many nostalgic versions of Mohanlal, 'Thudarum' is an enjoyable mix of massy action and rooted drama.
Director: Tharun Moorthy
Writers: Tharun Moorthy, KR Sunil
Cast: Mohanlal, Shobhana, Manianpillla Raju, Prakash Varma, Binu Pappu
Language: Malayalam
In what might seem like a silly in-joke, Thudarum begins with Benz (Mohanlal) — a taxi driver who got his nickname because he loves cars — explaining to his passengers the difference between a star and a superstar. He takes the names of legends like Rajinikanth, MGR, Kamal Haasan, Mammootty and Mohanlal, and instead of talking about their hard work, sincerity or unlimited amounts of acting talent, he says it’s because all of them were great at doing action. It might seem like a detail that’s being used as a segue to tell us about how Benz was once a stuntman in Tamil cinema, but you really need to wait until the film’s second half to understand what the real pay-off for that dialogue is going to be.
It’s a clever bit of meta writing, infinitely cleverer than the cloyingly lazy ways in which the film uses references from older Mohanlal movies. Some of these were expected given how Mohanlal was to be seen with Shobhana after decades. But the others — like the two Odiyan references or the Malaikottai Valiban dialogue — seem like the work of an overexcited Mohanlal fanboy trying to do what they do best in Tamil cinema.
Yet there’s always a hidden surprise in there that makes it difficult to place Thudarum as either an extremely straightforward version of Drishyam, or as some sort of self-aware meta thriller that’s all about giving you all the various versions of Mohanlal we haven't seen in recent times. Most pleasant among these surprises is the fact that Shobhana runs a flour mill called “Pavithram”, and the way in which the name becomes integral to the plot (because Pavithram also means “purity”).
Naturally, the comparisons with Drishyam (2013) is what will make up any discussions on Thudarum — not just because this is a film about a family’s peace getting disturbed forever after the entry of an outsider, but also because it follows an ordinary man having to take on the full force of the Kerala police.
The shift from a feel-good family comedy to a thriller feels abrupt, even as the film takes its time to set motivations for the characters and what’s at stake for Benz and his family. Up until an hour into the film, you are deceptively led to believe that the most important plot point will end up being Benz’ beloved black Ambassador car. But as Thudarum shifts gears (and stakes), the car becomes incidental to all the taller points the film wants to make.
We get some stunning sequences as this transition occurs. In one scene, Benz tries to literally (and figuratively) wash away bloodstains from his hands; in these portions, Shaji Kumar’s camerawork has an eerie ability to bring alive the black Ambassador car, and frame the scenes in a manner that feels like the car is emoting just as well as any other actor. Just as clever are the portions that play out like the classic good cop-bad cop setup, written so deceptively that it would take a second viewing to fully understand why we felt deceived.
But what separates Thudarum from a movie like Drishyam is how it is decidedly more primal and evidently less cerebral. In other words, it’s not even a film that wants to go deeper into the conflict or the inner selves of the people responsible for a crime. By creating a stunning villain (played by ace adman Prakash Varma), it remains firmly grounded even if you’re not fully convinced with where the narrative is taking you. If Georgekutty in Drishyam was a man who learnt about life from the many years he worked as a cable TV operator, Benz is someone who reacts this way because he was once a stuntman in Tamil cinema.
And that’s eventually what decides the path he chooses when he’s pushed to the wall. As the film takes a dark turn, it is no longer about who is right and who is wrong. It begins to appeal to the most primal of emotions in which revenge too becomes a form of survival. After this point, characters are often compared to wild beasts with the film’s setting taking on the form of a lawless forest.
This is also where Thudarum becomes a lot massier than the outing we were promised in the trailers. Helped greatly by Jakes Bejoy’s booming score, the seemingly predictable scenes are elevated to a place you’d never expect in such a film. It may be low-hanging fruit to settle for what it ends up becoming — given the obvious comparisons with Drishyam — but the magic in the execution is how these moments leave you feeling more than satisfied.
It may not be all that it promised to be, but with solid performances from Prakash Varma playing the relentless villain, and the many nostalgic versions of Mohanlal, Thudarum is an enjoyable mix of massy action and rooted drama.