Thaen - A gentle wake-up call to all that midpage news we ignore.
Meera Chithirapaavai
Loosely based on a collection of true events, Thaen is a Ganesh Vinayakan directorial that sets out to voice the struggles of the impoverished who live away from regular living communities. Funded by AP Productions, Thaen is not your regular entertainer. While some makers use films as a platform to entertain the masses, some have a strong thought to put forth. Thaen falls in the second category and leaves us with a hard-hitting tale that ensures you walk out of the cinema hall with a level of discomfort.
Tharun & Abarnathi as Velu & Poongodi respectively does an extremely convincing job with their performance. Both the characters carry forward their intent in an honest & unpolished manner that helps the overall film’s tone. The artists who played the couple’s daughter deserve a special mention for delivering a performance that makes the viewer forget that it is a performance that has been planned & staged.
The film is mainly about social injustice & the failure of some government schemes & officials in serving the underprivileged. The commentary on the lack of commitment & efficiency of the government through multiple dialogues is thought-provoking. Some films need melodrama & cinematic touches to make it hard-hitting while some real stories exceed everything & just an unpolished recreation of that will make the film larger than life. Here larger than life isn’t referring to the huge sets, songs, or heroism; it refers to unimaginable situations that some sector (minority) of people go through in their day-to-day life.
The director might have consciously gone for a rustic finish but the lack of lip-synching & long shot for important dialogues shows that there has been some trouble with achieving filmmaking & technical finesse. DOP, M Sukumar’s work behind the camera is stunning as he captures the essence of the hill & the lifestyle of people residing there in the most effective way. Special mention to T Udhay Kumar who has worked on the sounds as the void yet rounded essence of that demography is crystal clear. The film’s narrative is in no hurry to captivate the viewer & this could challenge the film’s overall audience engagement. The film also suffers major pacing issues.
Thaen isn't as sweet as it sounds. It brings to you a hard-hitting emotional tale that many of us would have ignored in the past. However, the film could have been more effective if the overall packaging exploited the filmmaking & narrative techniques.
Rating - 2.5/5