We decided to watch Thallumaala because my son has taken a liking to Tovino Thomas since Minnal Murali. Tovino raised the bar with movies like Minnal Murali and Kala. I have received a lot of flack for liking Kala but I honestly loved that movie. Why I’m talking about Kala is because Thallumaala too is about egoistic men fighting it out to get closure.
This topic has been brilliantly portrayed in the past in movies like Ayyapanum Koshiyum and Driving License. Once the egoistic protagonists achieve closure then everything is back to normal. Let’s be fair, it’s not just men, this is a basic characteristic of human beings. Women just don’t physically fight.
Taking this concept of “egoistic men fighting” and lacing it into an amazing screenplay is sheer brilliance.
The writers Ashraf Hamza and Muhsin Parari need to be commended here for being such visionaries and writing this out. As a writer myself, I could’ve never imagined a whole story/movie based on fights! Writers, take a bow! Equally brilliant are the director Khalid Rahman, the editor Srik Varier and the cinematographer Jimshi Khalid, without whom this movie wouldn’t have had the oomph factor.
Another brilliant aspect of this movie is no doubt the music by Vishnu Vijay. The music is so peppy and upbeat and caters to Millennials (like me, who are desperately trying to fit in the younger generation) and Gen Z. In fact, the whole movie caters to audiences of these generations only. I watched the movie in the theater with my mom and my son.
My son and I loved it while my mom was not so happy about it. She was like, “What the heck? The whole movie has only fights”, which is exactly what the writers and the director had in mind, I’m sure. This movie is not meant for audiences of her age group.
The whole movie is in chapters and presented like a comic book, which my kid absolutely loved! The colorful cinematography, the music, the outfits and the “thallu” are all in the right mix.
Tovino Thomas is a (good looking) hard working man, and it shows. He gives it all in his characters. It was a little underwhelming to watch him in Naradan and Vaashi after Minnal Murali, but again, he personally did justice to his roles, the narration and the movies on the whole didn’t have much to show. But with Thallumaala, Tovino is back in the game. He has gained extreme popularity as Minnal Murali, but the moment you see him as Wazim on screen, he is that character. Few actors who have gained popularity in a particular role can become entirely the character in another movie and make it real for the audiences and Tovino has managed to do that. The swag he carries through the entire movie tugs at the right strings of your heart’s guitar!
Kalyani Priyadarshan as Beepathu is very good. She portrays the ‘attention-deprived-and desperately-seeking-for-it’ gen Z quite convincingly. She’s an Instagram influencer in the movie and wears the “jaada” too well. There are quite a few jabs at gen Z which were funny. A personal favorite is a scene where the grandmother is seen scolding her grandson for keeping the phone out in the veranda for so long and as she takes it back, he goes “Aiyyo ente Time-Lapse video!”
Another very important character in the movie is Shine Tom Chacko as Reji and he has portrayed his character really well. From the creepiness at Wazim’s wedding, pushing us to think “when is he going to start a fight!” To the shot where he kisses Wazim once he beats the latter to pulp and is relieved the moment he gets closure. Brilliant!
Special props to Lukman Lukku. He has done full justice to his role.
The whole movie is eccentric and colorful. The cinematography, costumes, sets and songs, et al.
There is a cameo by Salim Kumar in a song called “Ole Melody”. And he starts the song as “Get-Set-Ego” and that's exactly what sums up the movie. No message or take aways from the movie, just pure entertainment in a colorful vibrant style about men fighting out their ego!
This probably is an ‘old wine packaged new’ kinda theme but trust me, you’ve never seen a movie like this! Watch it and you won’t regret it!
The “Tupathu” song is our new jam! :)