Just returned from watching “Thudarum” in the theatres. Had high hopes, to be honest, but returned disappointed. I suppose I was expecting another “Drishyam”, and while the movie gave such vibes until a bit after the interval, it suddenly changed gears and went somewhere else. A pity.
I enjoyed the first half, even though one could say it was slow and could have a few cuts. Felt like it might be laying the groundwork for what is going to happen later. But it doesn’t.
Shobana is wasted. I have no idea why she was casted, except for the nostalgia value maybe? And that pisses me off for some reason. Ditto Maniyan Pillai Raju. Or the song with MG Sreekumar in it. Like the movie, Shobana too gave vibes of maybe having a bigger role – but except for glaring angrily at the antagonist in some of the scenes, she does nothing. Would have been cool if in a twist the movie ended up having Shobana pull of a Drishyam level stunt. Woman power and all that. But that doesn’t happen.
The movie starts off with her having a decent amount of screen presence, and being shown as a strong character. But then she just gets sidelined.
The songs were meh. (The only good song was the one not composed for the movie). The cinematography – amazing! The antagonist Prakash Varma – boy, he’s something! Debut role too, if you can believe that. The movie is worth watching for his performance. He is not at all what you’d expect, and you wouldn’t want to be on his bad side. (Second movie I saw recently, where I hated the movie but the antagonist was great. The other one being “Panni”. But I didn’t like “Panni” at all, and if I had to watch something I’d rather watch “Thudarum” instead).
But mostly I am just disappointed at wasting 2 hours 44 minutes (plus interval & ads) at a cinema on a weekday for this movie. I should have waited a month or two to watch it on OTT (Hotstar, I think, they are the streaming partner) just like I did for “Empuraan”. I didn’t fuss much about “Empuraan” when it came to the cinemas because I felt it wouldn’t like the prequel, and I might not enjoy it. That was proven right when I saw the movie; but with “Thudarm” something about the trailers made me think it would be different, so I had higher expectations. Shouldn’t have.
Overall, “Thudarum” is worth a watch for Prakash Varma and the first half and as long as you are not expecting another “Drishyam” or a slow burn revenge plot. People seem to love it coz the reviews are great, so you might love it too! I just felt it was a movie with a lot of wasted potential.
Update (2nd May): This song isn’t in the movie but was released yesterday on YouTube and am loving it!