Cast: Tovino Thomas, Balu Varghese, Santhy Balachandran
Director: Dominic Arun
In the opening scene of Tharangam, the audience is introduced to a Wes Andersonesque colour palette. A lazy, mumbling ‘god’ disinterestedly wakes up to his daily chores. This god, played by Dileesh Pothan, is pestered by the character Kallan Pavithran, a troubled soul, begging god to rid his family of a curse that he kick-started. God being the man that he is tries to explain to Pavithran how things are bound to happen and this is what the story builds up on.
From this point onwards debutant director Dominic Arun unfurls his story in such a way that it requires the audience to put in every ounce of undivided attention. The audience is introduced to Kallan Pavithran’s history through an interesting animation, that leads to the curse. A slew of characters are introduced to the audience, who by now are focusing hard to connect the dots.
The scene then shifts to the lives of two incompetent traffic cops Pappan played by Tovino Thomas and Joy played by Balu Varghese. The duo, down on luck and money, is suspended after a failed undercover operation. In a bid to mint some fast cash, Pappan takes up a task entrusted by his senior, played by Vijaya Raghavan. Before they know it Pappan, his girlfriend Malu, Joy and his silent Appapan are caught in a chain of unfortunate events, the consequence of one of which would decide the future of Kallan Pavithran’s family.
Somewhere by the end of first half, one can feel the slight drag in the plot. Something that the director could have done away with. However, there is no denying that the movie keeps you hooked till the end, even when the story is quite predictable. It is only a matter of how it unfolds. It is not an out and out laugh-out-loud comedy, but yes, it has its moments. Tovino’s comic timing is spot on, complimented by Balu’s performance. Interestingly, there is not a single scene in the movie that was placed just for the fun of it. Once all the connections are perfectly made and the movie is over, the audience is sure to think back and try to piece the things together that they managed to miss out in the first place.
Tharangam, to be honest, is not everyone's cup of tea. This is for those who were thoroughly entertained by the likes of Double Barrel or even Aadu oru Bheekara Jeevi Aanu. Full of twists that would keep one on their toes, Tharangam is an unconventional black comedy, that visits Malayali screens rarely.
