'Thangalaan' movie review: Chiyaan Vikram's ferocious turn and Malavika Mohanan's rage power this drama to a no-holds-barred territory

Cast: Chiyaan Vikram, Parvathy and Malavika Mohanan

Director: Pa. Ranjith

Language: Tamil

Chiyaan Vikram is a strange beast whose ambitions and aspirations know no bounds. He has constantly pushed the envelope with his film choices and performances that have resonated with both his fans and critics. In many of the instances, he has been both praised and accused of doing more for the films than the films doing for him. Is Pa. Ranjith’s Thangalaan an addition to the list? Maybe or maybe not. But yes, it’s yet another display of ferociousness that not too many people can rival, let alone trump.

In both Anniyan and I, he had to deal with three different characters residing in the same body. This time, the number goes up to five. Of course, the central figure is the eponymous character himself, who tells bedtime stories to his children which marks the introduction of the character of Aarthi (played by Malavika Mohanan, who ignites equally impressive rage and angst). The beauty of the film lies in the fact how rustic the actors are willing to look and how far ahead they are ready to go. This is the world of KGF, where barbarism could be a human, a resident, and a brutal reality.

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I’m completely unaware of the existence of this grand world and how traumatic the lives were, but Ranjith shoots the film with the kind of scale that’s different from what we have experienced before. The color coordination swings between red and blue. Vikram’s body possesses a streak of brown. These different shades could also depict the different personalities of the characters as well as the film. Red could mean rage, blue could mean calmness, and brown could depict dung. Thangalaan is carried on the shoulders of the leading man who seldom skips a beat.

If there’s anything the film could’ve done better with was the length and the way Ranjith tells the story of the villagers. Does he get carried away with the sweeping style of his shots that he forgets to infuse a certain sense of emotional urgency? There’s a plethora of gravitas on display, but some hollow scenes stick out like a sore thumb. Nevertheless, Vikram and Malavika add that extra pinch of salt to a dish that could’ve turned completely bland. They add that tadka of desi deliciousness to a recipe that was purely aiming for stylized packaging.

Rating: 3.5 (out of 5 stars)

Thangalaan is now running in cinemas in the dubbed Hindi version