Chiyaan Vikram is renowned for his versatile performances and different genre entertainers. However, of late his films failed to set the screens on fire at the box office. His upcoming Entertainer Thangalaan directed by Pa. Ranjith is releasing on 15 August 2024. Let us find out what impact Vikram created with Thangalaan on movie lovers.
Thangalaan story is all about the lower class people and how they are turned bonded labours in the border districts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka during the British rule and how they fought against the injustice meted out to them.
Thangalaan ( Vikram) leads a pathetic life along with his family comprising good wife Gangamma( Parvathy Thiruvothu) and children and his sect is turned bonded labourers by the upper class in the North Arcot district.
Thangalaan sees an opportunity when British General Lord Clement ( Daniel Caltagirone) comes seeking help to unearth gold in the region. Where this leads to and whether the folklore related to Aarathi(Malavika Mohanan) form the crux of the story.
Chiyaan Vikram came up with breathtaking and stunning performance. He virtually lived in the role. His body language, expressions, emotions and mannerisms leaves all spellbound. He showed the sufferings and the fight for his community in a natural and realistic manner.
Parvathy Thiruvothu complimented Vikram with her performance. She showcased her acting talent in a powerful and impactful way. Malavika Mohanan is good in her role as the forest queen while Daniel Caltagirone did well in his role.
Thangalaan story penned by Pa. Ranjith has an interesting premise. He starts the narration in an interesting manner blending the mystical elements with caste differentiation and the oppression of the lower class and down trodden people.
He increases the curiosity levels with a captivating start but soon loses plot as he overdoes the mystical elements and switching from past to present quite often. The slow narration complicates the proceedings and one expects a better second half after the tedious first half.
But the second half turns the same and the impact levels goes down with the repetitive scenes. The story turned out be weak for all its creativity as the convoluted screenplay played the spoilsport. Ranjith for all the effort failed to come up with enhancing scenes.
G. V. Prakash Kumar's music and songs are situational and the natural melodious tunes gives a realistic feel. The songs are Choreographed in a beautiful manner. He elevated the scenes with his impactful and thumping background music. Cinematography is fine but VFX left a lot to be desired. Production values are good.
Altogether, Thangalaan has an interesting concept and is backed by the stellar performances from Vikram, Parvathy Thiruvothu,Malavika Mohanan. However, Pa. Ranjith lost the plot as he got carried away with his creativity and in the process lost the realistic thought process. Considering all these points, Cinejosh goes with a 2.5 rating for Thangalaan.