THADAM (2019)

Critic - No.166

Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Casts: Arun Vijay, Vidya Pradeep, Tanya Hope, Yogi Babu, ‘FEFSI’ Vijayan
Language: Tamil
Genre: Crime / Thriller
Music: Arun Raj

SYNOPSIS:
The murder of a young girl creates great confusion among the cops when they find out that the suspect found has a look-alike.

REVIEW:
Magizh Thirumeni has a good track record, be it his first breezy but low-key romantic flick, ‘Mundhinam Paartheney’, his breakthrough action flick, ‘Thadayara Thaaka’ or his latest thriller ‘Megamaan’. He has progressively established his strength for writing thrillers and ‘Thadam’, for me is his best in structuring suspense. From the first romantic track with the lead, Magizh buys our attention with his unique staging of flirting. From early in the story, we are introduced about the look alike, Kavin and Ezhil. The suspense is then effectively built after a murder. 

The investigation scenes are well crafted and I particularly liked how Divya, the police constable is being confused by the two stories, playing a role of the audience who are equally perplexed on whether to empathize with the stories the two of them are saying or put on a suspicious hat on the pointers. The suspense is well maintained until the climax when it ends off with a shocking twist. What makes ‘Thadam’ more closer to audience is the emotion it carries within the investigative treatment. Be it the two varied romantic tracks or the flashback sentiment, the film has very well etched out characters. The purposes of Kavin and Ezhil are so well defined. So when the film ends, it is emotionally satisfying and we can somehow side with the injustices of the lead.

Arun Vijay gets better by each film and the charisma he posses for this film is spectacular. Other actresses such as Divya and Tanya have given memorable performances as well. Yogi Babu’s character is force fitted (as usual) and the comedy is barely funny. Being mostly staged at night, cinematographer, Gopinath lights each scene brilliantly evoking the mystery through visuals. He even treats each of the lead with different colour gels of light, thematically identifying them. Arun Raj, the young composer is another talent to look out for who delivers a striking album for the film. The theme music crates an impact but somehow, strongly resembles the ‘Mankatha’ theme.

The flip side of the film is its slow start when it starts lingering without a knot. The initial half an hour might test your patience but once the inciting incident kicks in, we are quickly sucked into the space and the film barely gives any space for us to guess the next stage of the screenplay. Another down factor for the film is the casting of Sonia Agarwal in a prominent role during the flashback. As the core emotion of the film relies of the flashback, a stronger casting could have made the backstory more memorable.

VERDICT: 
With an interesting knot and gripping screenplay, ‘Thadam’ gives no time for the audience to breathe or figure out the satisfying, killer twist it has buried within.

CELLULOID METER- 3.5/5: