Movie Reviews
Thandatti Movie Review: A fairly engaging rural drama with a unique premise
Thandatti Movie Review: Rural entertainers with unique premise work only if the characters are interesting enough to transport us into their world. Thandatti, though it doesn’t have many conflicts and plot points, has certain elements and characters that let us sit through it without much effort. Thandatti means a pair of gold ear ornaments, and this film is all about how a drama unfolds when they go missing from the body of a dead old woman.
In the very first scene, we are introduced to Subramani (Pasupathy), a police constable who is on the verge of retirement. He is established as someone who earns the wrath of his senior officials by doing things differently. He takes up the responsibility to investigate a unique missing case that has come from a village called Kidaripatti, where people consider police officials to be their enemies. An elderly woman, Thangaponnu (Rohini), who is survived by four daughters and a son, goes missing all of a sudden. Subramani learns that Thangaponnu was struggling all these years at the hands of her greedy daughters and alcoholic son, which eventually forced her to leave her hometown.
Though Subramani manages to find her, things become complicated as she collapses all of a sudden due to health issues. Her kith and kin, instead of worrying about her demise, aim for the pair of thandatti that she had possessed for years. And during that very night, the ornament goes missing! Can Subramani solve all these issues and manage to ensure that her last rites are held peacefully?
Debutant director Ram Sangaiya takes some time to get us accustomed to the world that he has created. But when we slowly start understanding the writer’s intention, we begin to travel with certain characters as their humour has newness in it. While the second half completely revolves around the search for the thandatti, it’s good that the director establishes the story behind the ornament much earlier and gets us connected to it. Also, the humour in the second half works to a certain extent despite the gravity of the situation.
That said, the climax is not very satisfying. The writer gets way too ambitious and brings in a twist that’s completely unnecessary. The connection that he establishes towards the end isn’t organic, and the sequences are a bit forced. Vivek Prasanna’s role as an alcoholic adds a bit of drama at times, and makes the narrative a bit engaging. While Poovitha, Deepa Shankar, Janaki and Semmalar Annam, who play the daughters of Thangaponnu, deliver competent performances, the director could have brought in better conflicts through their characters in the second half.
Pasupathi delivers a great performance as a small-town constable and manages to hold the entire film high on his shoulders. The background score gets redundant and does nothing to elevate certain emotional sequences in the first half.
Overall, Thandatti is a fairly engaging watch — inventive and, at the same time, overly ambitious.