Thankam

Directed by Saheed Arafath starring Vineeth Sreenivasan, Biju Menon , Girish Kulkarni in lead role.

A gripping thriller with an unexpected twist.

The story tells us about the people in on in the gold business, their stress and strain in executing & what unintentional wrong steps they took which change their life, Thankam displays that grey area of the glitter business which is really not that glittery.

When it comes to performance, Vineeth Sreenivasan had done his best. He convincingly performed the character of Kannan the gold agent. His character represents that section of people in this glittery business falls into the traps which proves to be fatal for them. At one point we fells he is a con man but at the end we feel a sympathy towards that character.

Biju Menon alias Mathew had beautifully performed. His naive attitude, his innocence, his dialogue delivery in such situations where it is serious but when he delivers in his style, moment of laughter comes up.

Girish Kulkarni as shrewd police officer. An another notable performance. A perfect casting for the police officer.

Aparna Balamurali doesn't have much to deliver and in her limited presence had give an Ok performance. It was better to cast a heroine who is a beginner so that minimality of the screen presence and the artist carrying that character will be balanced as today especially post the national award scenario, public will expect more from Aparna Balamurali rather than being portrayed as a cameo heroine role.

Song restricted to 1 was an another positive factor.

Locations were good enough.

A crime thriller which takes like a slow train stopping at all stations wherein one by one a mystery is unlocked thereby not loosing the interest of the audience to watch till the end.

Overall Thankam ( Gold ) reminds us of one thing " All that glitters are not gold"

I enjoyed every second of this movie and loved the screenplay. The highlight of the movie is its climax and people are criticizing it because they never expected that. That's a classy story and screenplay for you, I would say.

It would have been great if the director gave some time to explain a few concepts regarding the occupation the main characters were doing, many people didn't get it at first instance and I also didn't understand what they were doing. Rather than that, I would say this is one of the best movies of 2023. Biju Menon and Vineeth played their roles nicely but the highlight is the Maharashtrian Girish Kulkarni, I have no words to explain his acting. I think it's time to rewatch the movie again.

Stellar performance by the cast, spellbinding script and very impressive direction, especially as there are many new artists such as the role of Arul , Abbas wife , Chechi etc to name a few .

BGM by Bijibal and Sound Design by Ganesh Marar is superb and adding to the whole feel of the experience.

It has enough lighter moments as well and not just about intense monents . Biju menon and Aparna Balamurli performance along with each and every character is amazing. Kochu preman .

Vineeth Srinivas character is also delivered seamlessly . Shyam Pushkaran is scaling new heights with each and every movie .

The most unprecedented aspect of Thankam is its distinct look at gold riders. Shyam Pushkaran's screenplay meticulously approaches its key characters Muthu (Biju Menon), Kannan (Vineeth Sreenivasan), and Jayant Sakhalkar (Girish Kulkarni), pulling you into their realistically gritty world with ease. The proceedings are completely engaging (up until the climax), with Bijibal's score, Kiran Das' cuts, and Gautham Sankar's cinematography serving their purposes well. Little revelations lead to bigger ones, and there are facets to Kannan that we get to know in bits and pieces. I wish Aparna Balamurali's character (Kannan's wife) had more meat to add to the plot, but since revelations surrounding Kannan are gradual, her character appears under-written.

Muthu and Bejoy (a superb Vineeth Thattil) take on the audience perspective, eager to find answers and getting perplexed at how sophisticated things are, beyond what they can imagine. Their internal banter also keeps things a bit light, in an otherwise cynical setup. Girish Kulkarni is fantastic, and the language barriers involved when a team of cops from Maharashtra investigate the case of a missing Malayali in Tamil Nadu are poignantly presented. He also gets at least one unexpectedly massy scene where a change of tone and posture in a conversation with a senior Tamil cop gets the job done faster. Same goes for the "poda koppe!" at the end. The climax, while not weak from a writing perspective, comes across as a bit of a dampener as all hopes of a bigger, more shocking twist are dashed.

Watched this one with my family today. This was an adult movie in a way. After an indifferent start, the film becomes so damn gripping. I really enjoyed it. It was a great police procedural. Awesome supporting cast - especially Vineeth Thattil (Kadan Benny Chettan in Angamaly Diaries), Gireesh Kulkarni and Jain Andrews, the actor who played Alex. After a slightly slow and indifferent start, the film suddenly grips you in a way only the best police procedurals can. Writer Shyam Pushkaran throws in a couple of mass scenes towards the end. Background score was jarring on some occasions. But this is a really terrific movie man. Great debut for director Saheed Arafat.

(8/10)