Malayalam superstar Mohanlal should be one of India’s busiest actors. His latest film, ‘Thaudram’, is his third dramatic release in the last four months, after ‘Barrose 3D’ and Malayalam blockbuster ‘L2: Emperan’. Malayalam cinema’s thepeyan, over the last few years, with some successful ventures, but with more unsuccessful efforts, and no back-to-back is a hit. Can ‘Thudram’ be a step stone for Mohanlal to do something hits? This is definitely a product to do so!

Pathanamthitta, Kerala, set up in the beautiful hill city of Ranni in Shanmugam, also known as Benz (Mohanlal), his wife Lalita (Shobana), a happy life as an infallible taxi driver with two children and her black ambassador car. Benz’s heart belongs to his car, which ends in the police station, amidst unfortunate events, while he is far away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzrylxuecrg

Benz, who is restless without his car, tries hard to bring it back from the police, but ends, which gets mixed in cases that he never dreamed. What will be the effect of these incidents on Benz? Will he get his car back? Why is the police so adamant about sticking to Benz’s car? What is a big story? Answers to these questions make more film plots.

Preventing information to avoid spoiling this thriller, the rest assured that the film has a lot, and the above mentioned questions are some of the many. The film slowly performs a great job in slipping interesting questions in the story, only to reveal over time, that the answers to these questions are a big question in itself. As the layers are exposed and the north start flowing, the film also sheds its crime thriller image and ends on a high note, riding Mohanlal waves.

The story of KR Sunil presents a very smooth-shattered story that becomes heavy with the progress of the story. The screenplay written by Sunil and director Tharu Murthy, efficiently establishes all the characters, their lives and inspirations, to make every action at the end of the film reliable – something that can fully return to the audience. While similarities can be drawn between Mohanlal’s ‘Dishum’ and ‘Thudram’, they are certainly not the same.

Mohanlal, as usual, offers a wonderful performance as the central character of the film. From being a patience and adorable father to menting and massey, he does all this more, earn whistles, clap and cheers from the audience. While the film plays him many shades, happy, cheerful and friendly taxi driver was definitely the best, as it was fresh to see Mohanlal after some time. Very bad that did not last long in the film.

Shobana Lalita does a good job as Benz’s serpent and rigid wife. She shows strength in her performance; However, his role was not as impressive in the film as expected. It was good to see the pair of Mohanlal and Shobana on screen together, especially during the first 45 minutes. The film was the stand-out performance Prakash Verma, who was in the form of C George. The famous advertising filmmaker, like the prestigious Vodafone advertisements characterized by Zuzo, saves a performance that leads the film to a level where the audience is invested as the characters of the film.

A blame in the film is close to two hours and 45 minutes. There were many scenes in the film, especially towards the end, which felt unnecessary. While the first half had a good speed, the second half was slightly spread in the half, with such moments that were looping around the same plot point instead of moving forward. If the editing in the second half had become crisp, it would have limited the run-time to about two hours and 25 minutes, the film would have left a better mark by the end.

The music and background scores of Jake Baygyoy, Cameravarke of Cinematographer Shaji Kumar, and other technical departments have served their objectives, but no one leaves the impression of being dues. It was very rare to leave the theater without a music experience that Jake Beejoy usually leaves with the audience, especially since the story and the script had all the ability to have a background score that would blow the roof!

Overall, the film creates a good balance between a Mohanlal film and Mohanlal starrer, which cateres fans of both tastes. While there are some shortcomings in the film, which provides attractive experience, it can only be made for any shortcomings that have been mentioned.

Nevertheless, given the uncertainty of box-office performance of films like these in Indian markets, it remains to be seen whether enough viewers will pick up ‘Thudram’, especially in view of its lukewarm pre-health discussions.