One-Line Review: Thangalaan explores the tale of tribal people who worked for unheartening gold from the Kolar fields of India.
Thangalaan Youtube Trailer
Cast: Chiyaan Vikram, Malavika Mohanan, Parvati, Pasupathi, Daniel Caktagirone, etc.
Release Date: August 15, 2024
Director: PA Ranjith
Vikram delivers a spellbinding performance in this Pa Ranjith film.
~ Hindustan Times
Introduction
Thangalaan, a tribal man is sought for help by a British officer in the hunt for Gold in India.
Our rating for Thangalaan is 8.5/10.
Summary
Thangalaan is a guy who belongs to a tribe, who mostly works as labourers of the King. Thangalaan often keep seeing nightmares and illusions of one Aarathi, a witch, who troubles him. After harvesting the crops for the season, Thangalaan narrates the story of his grandfather to his children one night. Thangalaan’s grandfather Kaadaiyan will be attacked by the then King, in search for Gold. On seeing Kaadaiyan’s fierce and fighting tacktics, the King directly asks him about ways to get Gold. Kaadaiyan reveals that the Gold available on earth is guarded by a powerful sorcerer witch named Aarathi and it is impossible for them to defeat her. As the King seeks his help to defeat Aarathi, Kaadaiyan demands half of the land taken by the emperor from them as a return return deal. Kaadaiyan defeats Aarathi and with the touch of her blood, the land changes into Gold.
At present, Thangalaan will be asked to assist Lord Clement, a British officer who will be seeking this gold. Thangalaan, during their exploration to the land where the gold is hidden, keeps getting visions of Aarathi and occassionally mumbles things to someone invisible as if in a hallucinatory state. After crossing multiple hurdles, Thangalaan finally reaches the place where he thinks the gold is hidden. He convinces the rest of the people of his tribe to assist him in mining the gold.
As Thangalaan fights his internal conflicts and greed for gold, he finds shocking things about himself and his tribe in the process.
Review
PA Ranjith is renowned for telling stories that are hard hitting, rich with content, often about the oppressed with a handful of metaphors and symbolism. Thangalaan, though, looks like a standout from his past filmography. Starting with the genre, it is hard to place the movie in one section of a genre. There is drama. There is mystery. There is action. There is magical realism. It is a different kind of package from PA Ranjith which is based on the history of the Kolar fields.
Vikram’s performance was exceptional. Although we did expected him to deliver something phenomenal, considering the mood of the movie and the look he was sporting, he still managed to make us go ‘Wow’! Such was the actor’s performance, handling a unique body language, mannerisms and dialect. Coming to the dialect part, Thangalaan might be tough to follow for many as the language is very different from conventional Tamil. Pasupathi have done an impressive role and deserves a pat on his back. Without a doubt, he’s one of the most underrated actors we’d ever had. Malavika Mohanan turned out to be the surprise factor. She played the ‘Sooniyakkaari Aarathi’, the witch. Her character, in a way, can be defined as the driving factor of the story and is easily the best in her career. Parvathi too was exceptional as Gangamma, Thangalaan’s wife. GVP’s composition took the entire thing to a whole new level. The movie gives a lot of ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’ vibes and GVP’s composition takes you back in time as well.
Though Thangalaan had very high production values, it will be wrong to say that the movie is neatly executed. Most often, if you blinked you might get confused on what’s happening. Such is the style of editing adopted for the movie. If you fixed your mind to watch a movie of a definite sort, then you might even end up getting disappointed. The transition and cuts, especially during some action sequences were pure madness and something that should be witnessed on big screen. One can’t help but wonder about the kind of efforts poured in by the team to bring out such cuts in the final out of the movie. Thangalaan in itself is an ambitious attempt by Ranjith and watching the tale unveil with an open heart can let you have a very rewarding and new experience.
Conclusion
An ambitious project, even with its own flaws, gives you a great theatrical experience – that is Thangalaan for you!
