Thankamani movie review: Dileep film offers a subpar ‘fictional’ take on a real-life incident of police monstrosity | Movie-review News

To offer context, in accordance with stories, an altercation arose in Idukki, 1986, after staff of a non-public bus attacked school college students who demanded that the automobile from Kattappana proceed to Thankamani as agreed, slightly than stopping on the close by Paramada claiming that the trail to Thankamani was in poor situation. Thankamani residents seized management of the bus, bringing it to their village to hunt an apology and backbone. Upon studying of this, the bus proprietor summoned police to the village, sparking a quarrel between officers and locals. Enraged, the police resorted to violence by opening fireplace on the villagers, leading to one demise and extreme accidents to a different. Experiences say that in addition they set homes on fireplace, thrashed males and sexually assaulted girls. The incident considerably impacted the political local weather in Kerala and was a key issue within the failure of Congress chief Ok Karunakaran’s UDF authorities within the Meeting elections held 5 months later.

Combining real-life occasions with fiction, the movie Thankamani is, in a means, an try to doc the horrors skilled by the villagers on that fateful October evening and supply them a type of ‘justice’, albeit throughout the realm of cinema.

Watch Thankamani trailer right here:

The film opens with the cold-blooded homicide of a politician by an unknown assailant. Because the investigation unfolds, Arpitha Nath IPS (Pranitha Subhash), the lead investigator, discovers similarities between this homicide and the killing of a police officer a 12 months earlier. Delving deeper, she connects these crimes to the Thankamani incident and begins unravelling the occasions of 1986 within the village. This leads her to Abel Joshua Maathan (Dileep), a Thankamani resident who, like many others, suffered from police brutality. Arpitha learns that Abel is accountable for the murders. However his hitlist contains extra individuals, all concerned within the 1986 incident. The remainder of the movie follows Arpitha’s pursuit of Abel and his makes an attempt to fulfil his mission.

Proper from the outset, Thankamani gives the look of being poorly conceived and this sense solely intensifies because the movie unfolds. That includes sloppy dialogues and moments missing emotional influence, Thankamani struggles to combine its scenes cohesively.

The investigation half too is equally subpar, with all clues seemingly falling onto Arpitha’s lap with out the necessity for a lot important pondering on her half. In the meantime, a personality, Robin Paul IPS (Ajmal Ameer), seems from nowhere with none introduction, including to the confusion, solely to be later understood by us as one among Arpitha’s assistants within the probe. Arpitha herself is a poorly developed character with lacklustre dialogues, dubbing and lip-sync, missing a correct identification and failing to make any vital revelations in the course of the investigation, rendering her the weakest character in Thankamani’s lengthy listing of weak characters.

Even the character of Abel lacks correct growth and consistency, displaying contradictory behaviour all through the film because of inconsistent characterisation. Regardless of introducing a number of aspect characters like Abel’s spouse Anitha (Neeta Pillai), his sister Rahel (Malavika Menon), his mates Thankachan (Azees Nedumangad) and Roy (Sudev Nair), and the primary antagonist Mani Peter (Manoj Ok Jayan), none of them depart a long-lasting influence, and so they find yourself being mere placeholders devoid of depth as in the event that they had been simply born and don’t have any clue as to what world they had been in.

Whereas the film, in the beginning itself, says that it’s only impressed by the true incident and that the occasions depicted are fictional, Thankamani’s narrative is crafted in such a means that it nearly invalidates the collective trauma and horrors skilled by quite a few villagers by focusing solely on Abel’s story. Regardless of briefly exhibiting the police violence inflicted on many, the movie solely centres on Abel’s private struggles and his quest for revenge, neglecting the experiences of different Thankamani residents. This skewed perspective turns a big group tragedy right into a slender revenge story, diminishing the broader influence of the incident and decreasing it to at least one particular person’s pursuit of justice.

The movie additionally presents Thankamani, in its tagline, as a “bleeding village”, however its makers ought to have realised that Thankamani isn’t just a village that bled. They need to not have neglected the villagers’ resilience. Thankamani not simply suffered… Additionally they stood up and protested in opposition to the atrocities, making waves throughout Kerala, and demanding justice.

Ratheesh Reghunandan’s Thankamani stars Dileep and Neeta Pillai within the lead roles. (Picture: Dileep/Fb)

Thankamani’s dealing with of the stories suggesting that many ladies had been assaulted that evening can be regarding, as many characters (males, clearly) are proven at numerous factors asking the politicos to not talk about it publicly, stating that “it will have an effect on the way forward for their girls”, implying a disregard for justice for the victims and survivors.

On the similar time, by depicting Abel searching for revenge in opposition to solely a choose few who had been immediately concerned within the atrocities, the movie additionally nullifies the bigger difficulty of the highly effective utilising state equipment to oppress the underprivileged, significantly these from lowered castes who resided within the precise Thankamani.

One other insufferable side of Thankamani, once more associated to its dialogues, is the accent utilized by the actors to point the movie’s setting in Idukki. Author-director Ratheesh ought to have realised that the extreme use of “Enna” (a variation of the Malayalam phrase “Entha“, that means “What”, generally utilized in central Kerala) doesn’t essentially mirror an correct accent. Whereas characters regularly insert “enna” into their dialogues, the supply of the remaining strains doesn’t align with any of the native slangs in Idukki and lacks a fluid, pure movement, leading to all conversations sounding unpolished.

Thankamani additionally suffers from a string of miscast actors, with Azees Nedumangad being the only real exception. Not one of the actors seem to totally embody their characters, not to mention ship passable performances. Pranitha Subhash stands out as essentially the most obtrusive miscast, failing to persuade the viewers of her portrayal as Arpitha. Equally, Neeta Pillai’s efficiency as Anitha can be disappointing. From Manoj Ok Jayan and Sudev Nair to Malavika Menon and Siddique, not one of the actors make a long-lasting impression.

Dileep’s efficiency within the movie is especially dismal, even worse than his earlier work in Bandra. Regardless of his makes an attempt, he fails to understand Abel’s depth, environment and feelings, leading to an unconvincing efficiency. Even throughout emotional scenes the place Abel is meant to be crying, Dileep fails to convey the character’s emotions, making every part appear amateurish.

Even the technical facets of the movie, together with cinematography, modifying and artwork path, are equally subpar and don’t present any help to salvage the sinking Thankamani.

Briefly, whereas Thankamani makes an attempt to doc, with the assistance of fiction, an incident that deserves extra consideration, the subpar method through which the movie’s workforce has executed it’s evidently not the proper strategy.

Thankamani film solid: Dileep, Pranitha Subhash, Neeta Pillai, Manoj Ok Jayan
Thankamani film director: Ratheesh Reghunandan
Thankamani film score: 1 star