Tharangam

Story: Kallan Pavithran is in negotiation with God to save his great grandchild, who is the latest victim of the curse the Maker had imposed on Pavithran’s successors for a theft he committed. Switch to Earth, two suspended cops Pappan and Joy are tangled in love and war. How the duo and Pappan’s girlfriend Malu come out of the troubles make the movie.

Review: “I have created humans with the capability to differentiate what is good and bad and act accordingly. There is no point in blaming me without using the capacities” – This is what God (Dileesh Pothan) says to Kallan Pavithran (Achuthanathan) while he accuses the Maker for the uncertainty prevailing in his grandchild’s life.

From the opening of the movie, by introducing God in an innovative fashion, director Dominic Arun has tried to break the clichéd fantasies.

Padmanabhan aka Pappan (Tovino Thomas) is a timid cop working in the traffic department who along with his buddy Joy (Balu Varghese) gets suspended after an undercover operation. Pavithran is in a live-in relationship with Malu (Santhy Balachandran) who finds her boyfriend indecisive, selfish and self-centered.sui

The unexpected suspension brings uncertainty in Pappan’s financial state. The story picks momentum when the duo decides to take up a task to return bribe money and from then on, the movie eases into a wave just like its title. The task is to spy on Thirain (Shammy Thilakan)’s wife Omana Varghese (Neha Iyer) whom he suspects of having many extra-marital relationships. At a point, the confused Thirian attempts suicide leaving Pappan and Joy trapped.

Tangled in a lot of fuss while trying to untangle a simple issue, the hero and his friend present a lot of thrilling moments and persuade the audience to join in the ride. As the story extends to issues like smuggling and underworld business, we see the characters being transformed and also the humane side of those considered bad.

Dominic and Anil Narayanan have crafted a good script with well-worked situational comedies which one could connect. Ashwin Renju’s apt background score and Dawn Vincent’s fitting sound mixing are worth a mention as they have even added situational yet surprising ringtones that leave the audience in splits.

Tovino has perfectly portrayed Pappan on screen making the audience fall in love with his character. However, his performance has nothing more to offer than Anjaneya Das in his previous outing, Godha. Balu Varghese is a treat to watch as Joy with all his quirkiness and bloopers. His evolution as an actor from Honey Bee to present is evident on screen. Debutant Santhy deserves a special mention as she has given life to Malu, the otherwise loving girlfriend with an interesting psychological disorder, pretty well. Neha, Manoj K Jayan, Saiju Kurup and Shammi Thilakan too have done justice to their roles.

Nevertheless, a little boredom would seep in when you see Alencier and Vijayaraghavan once again in their expected roles, which the director could have easily avoided. Even though Dileesh Pothan plays God to break the mould, his portrayal still comes across as redundant. The movie has an interesting climax but it lags at the end after the surprise appearance by a prominent actor.

Dominic Arun has successfully tried to serve a fantasy thriller which is a blend of Priyadarshan and Quentin Tarantino movies. It has well-narrated romance, suspense, action and emotions. If you are in the mood for a thrilling, fantasy movie, Tharangam is your best bet this season.