Director: Jeetu Joseph
Cast: Karthi, Jyothika, Sathyaraj
The title of this film by Jeetu Joseph (of Drishyam/Papanasam fame) couldn’t be more deceptive. If you thought this was going to be your typical sentimental, preachy outing with a warm fuzzy feeling at the end of it, chuck that out of your head before you enter the theatre to watch. And watch you must, for this is filmmaking of the highest caliber. This riveting story with a familial backdrop peels out in layers like an onion, but at the same time, also spares you the tears!
The protagonist at the center of the tale is Vicky (Karthi), who is an orphaned tout ripping tourists off in the beaches of Goa. Now here’s the first plot point. The veteran politician Gnanamoorthy (Sathyaraj) believes that Vicky in fact is his long lost son Saravanan. Saravanan, a difficult kid and a junkie had run away from home fifteen years ago and the family believes Vicky, who apparently suffers from bouts of amnesia, is the boy they’ve been searching for. Vicky personally sees this as a chance to rip another unsuspecting family off and rides along with them to their abode in Mettupalayam.
It is in Mettupalayam that we meet a wide palette of characters from Saravanan’s past, not all of whom are convinced about Vicky’s new assumed identity. First, there is his elder sister Parvathy (Jyothika), who still harbours anger on him fifteen years later. Then, there is his childhood friend Karan, who is now the local police inspector and whose cop instincts drive him to constantly probe and catch Vicky out. There is Sanjana, his teenage love interest, who is still unmarried and waiting for him to return. There’s the delightful grandmother character, played by Sowcar Janaki who is unsurprisingly the first to call his bluff (don’t grandparents know their grandkids the best), though she also turns his ally in a blast of a sequence at a later point! Imagining Vicky’s plight in the center of this house, I was reminded of a tag line from a popular reality show: Odavum mudiyathu, oliyavum mudiyathu!
These initial sequences are tailor made for Karthi, who laps up the humour quotient and breezes his way through. However, things are not as easy as they first seem for Vicky. There is someone who wants him dead and will go to any lengths for it. And before you start delving deep into this particular hook, the director slowly starts revealing other surprising twists that you don’t really see coming. What initially felt like a simple, feel good, small time con story suddenly turns into this layered, reconstructive saga with surprises and dark secrets at every turn.
Where Thambi really works is in the way it beautifully marries a unique story with an extremely engaging screenplay. This sounds really basic, but most recent films I’ve watched have failed miserably in this regard. It is an art to keep the audience hooked for the entire run time and Jeetu Joseph proves he is a master at this, though he is also helped abundantly by talented technicians like Govind Vasantha whose background score is just terrific. The writing is water tight and there are no loose threads. For instance, if you wondered why the film needed an almost parallel ‘land grab’ track, wait till the stunning revelation at the end where even this ties up with the main story!
At the end of the film, you even wonder if Thambi is maybe a spiritual sequel to Drishyam/Papansam. Of course, I don’t want to reveal more in this regard and curtail your viewing experience. Along with Suttu Pidikka Utharavu, this has to rank amongst the best thrillers made this year. It is a family portrait, but with many shades of grey!
Overall rating: 3.5/5
