Chanthupottu (2005) : A Controversy

                            Chanthupottu is a Malayalam movie directed by Lal Jose and released in 2005 . It tells the story of Radhakrishn...

Nov 11, 2015

Thoongaavanam Movie Review

The last time we saw actor Kamal Hassan in a stylish makeover was in Gautam Menon's "Vettaayadu Vilayaadu". Kamal returns in another stylish get up this time in Thoongaavanam, an action thriller that has the actor occupying bulk of the screen presence in a screenplay written by the man himself.
Thoongaavanam is a speedy thriller that makes a decent watch. Though the plot have many loose ends to fix and also the presence of certain illogical stuffs do make the film on a sticky terrain at times, our leading man takes the film forward till the end. One can say he singlehandedly takes it on his shoulders as he has very little support from the supporting cast though there is an ensemble list of actors to support Kamal.
An adapted version of French film "Sleepless Nights", which I have not seen, the remake from what I have read have not deviated much from the original.
Ninety percent of the movie happen in a night club where Diwakar played by Hassan is in search of his kidnapped son who is in the hands of a drug mafia that is lead by Vittal Rao. Why he landed there and why his son is kidnapped and whether he can rescue his son from the clutches of the gang is what is that is shown in the film.
Director Rajesh M Silva has ensured that the film is engaging throughout the entire duration and he has succeeded in that for the most part except for some minor glitches and slowness in some portions.
There is not much of a suspense involved here as we are literally shown or the revelations are made at an early stage of the film. So in that way the suspense element is almost nullified or killed by halfway. But that doesn't make the Thoongavanam a bad or an underwhelming movie.
On the making side, the film is entirely focused on the character of Diwakar. Rajesh has given a stylish getup for Kamal Hassan with less doses of slow motions. But there are actions that he had to perform and in those sequences, there is no amount of larger than life element in the character of the protagonist.
Talking about action which is one of the major highlight of Thoongaavanam, the action team has done an excellent job to give the film a different dimension. Cinematography is done nicely supported by sharp edits. Background score by Ghibran also lifted the film and the score was perfect for the mood that a thriller film demanded.
If you ask me to list down the major highlights, I would say apart from the presence of Kamal, it would be action choreography, camera work and BGM.
Art department too deserves special mention and have done something good for the film. Sound design is another notable aspect that deserves to be lauded.
Now to the acting, I was impressed with Kamal Hassan as he almost runs the show here with a clean act conveying the emotions of a lost dad and at the same time keeping the look of a cop intact. But sadly he received little support from a big line of actors like Prakash Raj (some funny scenes worked), Sampath and Kishore. Not that they performed badly but didn't reach a level expected from such a line up.
Trisha has done some action sequences here to the best of her abilities but on the emoting side, she was not in a convincing act. The boy who acted as Kamal's son was good in that role. Not sure what was Asha Sharath doing there in a very inconsequential role.
May be it is not upto the expected level but the film is sleak and stylish with a reliastic treatment that lost on pace as the movie progressed. But citing this reason of sluggish pace in the second half; one cannot disregard the film. An intriguing thriller that has its ups and downs, Thoongaavanam is a film worth watching and my rating is three out of five.
Rating - 3 / 5

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