Thiru. Manickam

Thambi Ramiah’s role in Thiru. Manickam is the best example to tell what is wrong with the movie. He plays the role of an NRI from the UK, who happens to travel with Manickam (Samuthirakani), who is on a mission to do the right thing when the whole world is against him. Remember MR Radha from Ratha Kaneer (1954), a snobbish foreign return, who disses everything Indian? Thambi Ramaiah channels this outdated acting style for Thiru.Manickam. He lacks the philosophical depth MR Radha had even for the caricature of the role, but Ramaiah is an eyesore who just has emulated the exaggerations. When working abroad has become commonplace in 2024, the film is stuck in some distant past where such NRIs are still treated as a rare breed. Take the scene where Ramiah gloats a ‘foreign chocolate’ on the face of a small kid. That’s the nature of the entire film. It brims with outdated tropes, characters, and execution.