Thudarum

Thudarum is a new Malayalam action thriller that starts off innocently enough, almost as a family dramedy, but soon becomes much, much darker. The film is a wild ride and throws surprises every now and then. Let’s explore in detail the plot of Thudarum, its ending, which is explained here, its cast, and more. The film features Malayalam superstar Mohanlal in the main role of Shanmugham, who is better known as Benz. The reason? It’s his car, and no, it’s not a Mercedes. In fact, it is a vintage Mark-I Ambassador that he loves more than anyone. Well, not really, as he also has a wife and two children, but you get the point. Until close to halfway mark, Thudarum remains the family movie that the director promised. After that… well, let’s leave for that later. This Malayalam thriller movie also features Shobhna as Shanmugham’s wife Lalitha. The plot kicks off when the said car is seized by the cops. It was at a mechanic’s workshop after being crashed by the friend of Shanmugham and Lalitha’s son, Pavi (Thomas Mathew). The mechanic was charged with possession of marijuana.

Like a beast taking its time in revealing its true nature, Thudarum almost lulls us into a comfortable space with everyday happenings and innocuous humour in its opening passages. When it shifts shape, it does it ever so slightly, over the course of ‘Benz’ Shanmugham (Mohanlal)‘s pursuit to get back his beloved old car, unfairly seized by the police, and during a night journey up the hills, as one feels the tension ramping up. The film then coasts along on this path, while throwing in Shanmugham’s emotional roots at regular intervals, with the car, with a former stunt master and with his family. With Operation Java and Saudi Vellakka, Tharun Moorthy proved himself as a filmmaker to look forward to, but there was always the apprehension of how he would adapt his approach to a big star. He gets the balance almost right, giving the fans stuff to cheer for without compromising much on what he wants to say, in the way he wants it to be said. Buoyed by a solid story by K.R.Sunil, Tharun gets the right pulse for a mainstream drama. Intelligently woven into the plot is a natural disaster, which turns out to be one of the key elements in a revelation.

In what might seem like a silly in-joke, Thudarum begins with Benz (Mohanlal) — a taxi driver who got his nickname because he loves cars — explaining to his passengers the difference between a star and a superstar. He takes the names of legends like Rajinikanth, MGR, Kamal Haasan, Mammootty and Mohanlal, and instead of talking about their hard work, sincerity or unlimited amounts of acting talent, he says it’s because all of them were great at doing action. It might seem like a detail that’s being used as a segue to tell us about how Benz was once a stuntman in Tamil cinema, but you really need to wait until the film’s second half to understand what the real pay-off for that dialogue is going to be. It’s a clever bit of meta writing, infinitely cleverer than the cloyingly lazy ways in which the film uses references from older Mohanlal movies. Some of these were expected given how Mohanlal was to be seen with Shobhana after decades. But the others — like the two Odiyan references or the Malaikottai Valiban dialogue — seem like the work of an overexcited Mohanlal fanboy trying to do what they do best in Tamil cinema.