Trailers of movies, which possibly came to exist with the purpose of luring people to cinema, can at times do just the opposite. When Mohanlal and Shobana, the old pair that created magic on screen two to three decades ago, came together for the trailer of Thudarum, it brought on a collective sigh. But the few moments ripped out of the film for the trailer made it seem like a poor attempt to recreate the old, a shot at nostalgia that would go horribly wrong.
What went wrong is the trailer. The movie thankfully rises above it, but not to deliver a romantic comedy or family entertainer as was thought.
Thudarum packs all of the fun into a tiny segment at the beginning and veers off to be a thriller with little to laugh or smile at. The movie, made by the reliable Tarun Moorthy, finally allows Mohanlal, an actor whose skills had known no bounds once, to prove himself again.
Thudarum does not exactly give you a high, nor is it the moving drama it is written to be. While it is well-made, the script more or less falls into a familiar pattern of revenge, turning disappointingly typical after the intriguing first half. KR Sunil’s story that he scripted with Tarun must have gleamed with promise, but at some point, it takes the easy route out and does not try to be unique.
For starters, there is a family of four– Shanmugham (Mohanlal), Lalitha (Shobana), Pavi (Thomas Mathew) and the daughter played by Amrutha – the comfortable setting of a lower-middle-class home settling itself into an evening of silly fights and jokes. Those few sequences are precious and they escape the clutches of a cliche by being organic.
Shanmugham’s first love is his black taxi, an aged ambassador that he does not let another touch the steering of. This car-love earns Shanmugham the nickname Benz that even his children call him by. Shobhana is adorable as his Tamil-speaking wife, nagging her car-crazy husband and teenage children. Jakes Bejoy’s music fits lovingly into the home. So far, so good.
If only they had listened to Benz and not let someone else drive the car. Trouble soon begins for the family, and you know from the moment you see a police station in the picture that there is no going back.
In some ways, the film is reminiscent of Drishyam, another celebrated thriller of Mohanlal, where trouble comes into the midst of a happy middle-class family. Come to think of it, the vehicle-love can also be a tribute to another beloved Mohanlal character - Sudhi, who is obsessed with Sundari, the rickshaw, in Aye Auto (1990). But there is no comparison. Thudarum moves in a more or less straightforward fashion, with little mystery except for a disturbing bit of suspense revealed in parts.
There appear to be a few disjointed segments, which come with a lot of detailing but have little bearing on the film. For one, there is a half-baked elephant connection among the forests the movie keeps going back to. Another is Shanmugham’s back story – involving a cameo by the legendary Bharathiraja. But it does allow the makers to give a captivating intro through a series of old photographs that a film lover would hold dear, even as some have been touched by AI.
The back story also justifies Shanmugham’s transition when the situation demands. You’d wish the movie explored more of the back story, dug something out of it, and dragged it to the present. Even the family that seemed to be all of Shanmugham’s world, after his car, of course, shrinks to stereotypes in the little they have to do afterwards.
Instead, you have angry policemen playing good cop-bad cop rolling out on the screen and not going away. They steer the story forward, like a metaphor of the poor black car that has lost all control.
Jakes’ endearing music turns fittingly creepy along with the story. Binu Pappu and Prakash Varma deliver their pieces well enough to keep you disturbed. What is more disturbing, however, is the script’s refusal to take a chance.
Nonetheless, Thudarum is a well-made film, with every department doing a clean job. Shaji Kumar’s cinematography is especially important in a film that dwells, for a good part, in the depths of the woods.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.