THANDAKAARANYAM Review - Wasted Opportunity of a Solid Source Material.

Ashwin Ram

Premise: Kalaiyarasan is Dinesh’s brother who goes to Jharkhand for Army training in the Naxal Rehabilitation Program to join the force. The struggles he faces at the camp and his family’s worrisome situation in their native forms the crux of the story.

Writing/ Direction: The narration could have been straightforward, at least for the first flashback, which showcases Kalaiyarasan’s love track and his family backdrop. In that way, there could have already been a routing factor when we witness his current situation, also his romantic portions would not have been a hindrance between the training period. While the combination scenes with the heroine are old-school that fails to transform the emotion, the bonding with Dinesh who plays his brother is weak as well. Dinesh’s role is noble and has the potential for heroic elevations, but his scenes are rushed in both halves. Especially towards the end where he turns rebellious, although the context is implied, all he does is hunt cunning people down in quick succession. The contrasting nature between the character arcs of Dinesh and Kalaiyarasan is superlative but goes down as a classic example of how something fascinating can still land underwhelming due to flat screenwriting. The training camp sequences are on the lines of Viduthalai, made in the intention to create empathy, but it lacks the depth and drama. The politics displayed is interesting, the ‘Naxal Rehabilitation Program’ scam does give a shock value, but sadly such a solid piece is presented in a half-baked manner. Many important plot-points are conveniently written, illogical how Kalaiyarasan got hold of a paper article about the scam and him exposing the sensitive news in the van to his fellow mates. The friendship angle between Kalaiyarasan and Shabeer is one of the appreciable elements in the movie, their combination scenes in the second half are sentimental and the tension prevails until they separate.

Performances: Following Vaazhai, good work by Kalaiyarasan, but insufficient finesse in portraying his role leads to a lesser impact than intended. Dinesh’s character arc is solid, yet fails to make a mark due to the hurried pacing of his portions. Shabeer in an emotional role which makes him refreshing on-screen, his character is empathetic and he makes it a worthy outing for himself with his calculated performance. Except for the one foul play scene, Bala Saravanan’s comic presence was quite a disappointment, his contribution to the climax sequence was also underwhelming. Dummy roles for both the female leads, they were present just to add a dramatic aspect to the heroes, but their screen space is extremely minimal.

Technicalities:  Justin Prabhakaran’s music is a valuable asset to the film, especially the powerful song for the opening title card sets the mood of the subject. He does his job with utmost sincerity regarding the background score as well. Neat camera work, Pratheep Kaliraja has perfectly presented the innocence in the flow and the elevations towards the end, the night shots are crystal clear too with the right amount of lighting. Selva RK’s editing is a big mess, many jumps in the narrative, the placements of the flashbacks and certain scene orders were so random. Action choreography appeals to be decent with the help of sound effects, however the climax forest sequence had a lot of abrupt moments.

Verdict: A sensitive subject with superb potential to be an impactful socio-political drama lands just as a film with good ideas. The efficient plot-points and character arcs failed by execution, layered writing and coherence in the narrative was required.

THANDAKAARANYAM - Wasted Opportunity of a Solid Source Material.

Rating - 2.5/ 5.