Thoongavanam is Kamal Haasan's 3rd release of this year.The last time 3 Kamal Haasan films released in the same year was way back in 1994.There was an interesting observation by someone in social media on how the father/son or father/daughter bonding has been an important core in Kamal film's this year (Uthama Villain and Paapanasam). Thoongavanam too has this in place. Well Kamal is someone who can never be charged for being monotonous. The father in Thoongavanam is as alien as you can get from his other two films this year.

Plot:

Divakar(Kamal Haasan) gets his hands on goods worth crores belonging to a drug cartel.Things get dangerous as his son gets held for ransom. How Divakar overcomes the odds in a single night is Thoongavanam for you.

Cast:

Kamal plays a no-nonsense tough guy and does exactly what is required. As the film progresses you can feel the tiredness of Divakar and that is Kamal for you. Trisha gets a makeover and is utterly believable as the suave cop. The dependable trio of Prakashraj,Kishore and Sampath deliver the goods. But you never get a feel of their full potential. This really might not be a movie to show acting prowess but still something seems to be missing. The same can be said about Yugi Sedhu and Jagan. Guru Somasundaram continues to do films where the audience would find it difficult to identify him. And this with almost no noticeable physical change. This man is some sort of a talent.

Crew:

Ghibran's stint with Kamal continues and he continues to impress us with his repertoire. Almost the entire film happens within a club. Kudos to Sanu Varghese for capturing the essence of night life.

The stunts are downright realistic and is like any brawl that you might catch on the streets.

Direction:

Debutant Rajesh has made a sleek film without any compromises.The first half whizzes past and the tension nicely builds up. But the night seems to get really long in the second half. And this is not about the length. The film has almost equal halves. The villains seem almost redundant in the second half. They hardly do a thing except running around with guns. The tension that seemed real in the first half almost vanishes as the film progresses. You have Prakashraj, Sampath, Kishore and Trisha right on their toes behind Kamal. But they seem non existent. Prakashraj being clueless about Kamal's movements despite him owning the club comes across as extremely shoddy. The few attempts at comedy come off as juvenile. Another thing that did not work was the father son bonding. Trying to be too cool, it merely comes off as aping from the action films of the west. Very early in the film Kamal gets wounded and he mends himself in front of a mirror. It is on his right side that he has a cut. But he bleeds from his left in the later scenes of the film. Something missed here? What works is despite the lack of some real tension, things always seem on the move. This is a film that could have easily made the hero look invincible and have scenes for the fans to hoot about. But Kamal refuses to budge.

Bottomline:

Thoongavanam keeps you awake. But the intensity is on the wane as the night progresses. 

Rating:2.75/5

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Thoongavanam is currently rated 58% at MC