'Thangalaan' Movie Review - Vikram’s Show All The Way In An Inconsistent Film!

Cast: Chiyaan Vikram, Parvathi, Malavika Mohanan, Pasupathi and others.

Music: GV Prakash Kumar

Cinematography: Kishore Kumar

Producer: KE Gnanavel Raja

Writer – Director: Pa Ranjith

Chiyaan Vikram is the only hero in this country after Kamal Haasan to dare to experiment. He is ready to do unexplored films that others won’t even touch. Such a great talent is struggling to find the right commercial success. He is still doing experiments and straining himself for versatile roles. ‘Thangalaan’ is another exciting film from Vikram and his look was quite shocking at first. The movie has arrived in theatres after decent promotions. Pa Ranjith who made ‘Kaala’, ‘Kabali’ and ‘Sarpatta Parambarai’ has directed this film. Let us see how the film turned out.

Story:

Thangalaan (Vikram) is a farmer belonging to a tribal community. The story is set in the pre-Independence era when the Britishers are still ruling us. No matter how hard they work, all the money is going towards taxes and people in his village face a lot of troubles. With his farm getting burnt one year, Thangalaan lost his farm as he couldn’t pay the tax. At that time, A British officer offer them money and takes them towards a dangerous area in order to find the gold mines. Though he knows that it is dangerous, Thangalaan takes some of his tribe's people and goes to find the mines in order to get the money that is needed to survive. What happens during this journey? What challenges did he face? Did he find the gold? Who got a hold of that at the end? Answers to these questions form the rest of the story.

Analysis:

‘Thangalaan’ is not any regular cinema. The film’s story, its background and the characters in it along with the conversations they have are entirely different. Director Pa Ranjith makes sure that we are taken into a whole new world for two and half hours. Including Vikram, every artist delivered stellar performances. The visuals, and background music are nothing short of fantastic. But all these failed to keep the audience engaged throughout the film. The main reason for this is Pa Ranjith’s inconsistent narration. Though there is a lot of strength in the story and we can see the effort which went into the scene along with the hard work of actors and technicians the confusion in the story and haphazard screenplay paired with continuity issues make ‘Thangalaan’ an unsatisfying watch.

After ‘Baahubali’, a lot of directors tried to create different worlds and take the audience into the journey. But what separates Rajamouli from others is his clarity. He made a fictional story set in a pre-Independence backdrop like ‘RRR’ and convinced the audience completely. This is the strength of Rajamouli. But there are a few directors who think that their range might go down if they narrate the film in a straight manner. They opt for a complicated screenplay and spoil the film. Pa Ranjith did the same with ‘Thangalaan’. He picked a different story in order to give a new experience to the audience. He casted Vikram who is one of the best in business and brought out a great performance from him. But he failed to narrate the story in an interesting and engaging manner. The visuals, acting talent and technical brilliance make you feel like you are watching something special but we cannot savour it completely due to the confusion in narration.

Starting from the introduction, our jaws get dropped when we see Vikram in that avatar. His behaviour and expressions are award-worthy. He did a lot of great and versatile roles till date but this is his career-best work. ‘Thangalaan’ looks exciting because of his work. He is nothing short of phenomenal. If a good narration backed his performance, ‘Thangalaan’ would have reached new levels. The scenes are left midway and the lack of continuity at many places along with the director’s fascination with unnecessary conversation scenes take ‘Thangalaan’ somewhere else. All the characters behave in an erratic way. The director would have thought that he designed a masterpiece of a character for Malavika Mohanan but it tests the patience of the audience. Even her backstory fails to justify her craziness in the film. The visuals and new experience are its advantages but the consistent narration proved to be the biggest disadvantage for the film. The first half is still engaging despite the confusion but the second half is quite bad with confusion and inconsistency getting much bigger. But ‘Thangalaan’ can be watched once for Vikram’s gigantic efforts and visual appeal.

Performances:

What to say about Vikram? No matter how many failures came his way, Vikram never stopped experimenting. He is risking his health and life for roles. Looking at ‘Thangalaan’, it is quite clear that no one except Vikram will take up this role. Right from his introduction, we forget that there is a handsome face of Vikram behind Thangalaan getup. We think that he is a completely different person. One can watch the film just for Vikram’s conviction and stellar performance. It is not an exaggeration when one can say that he deserves a National Award for this film. Parvathi fits perfectly into the role of Thangalaan’s wife. She is very natural and delivers a splendid performance. Malavika Mohanan shocks everyone with her Harathi character. Her acting is amazing though her role seems crazy. Pasupathi and others did a very good job.

Technicians:

GV Prakash Kumar’s music is a huge plus to this film. He poured his heart and soul into the background score of ‘Thangalaan’. He takes you into a new world completely with his intense re-recording. The movie does not have a lot of scope for songs but even the few in the film were good. Kishore Kumar’s cinematography is top-class. Gnanavel Raja’s production values are elite and he did not compromise at all. The art work is fantastic. Pa Ranjith proved his class once again. The story he selected and the way he presented all the lead actors including Vikram needs to be appreciated. He brought great output from his technicians as well. But his narration leaves the audience confused at places. Had he concentrated more on this, Ranjith’s hard work and efforts would have been granted a great reward.

Verdict: ‘Thangalaan’ – Vikram’s Show All The Way In An Inconsistent Film!

Rating: 2.75/5