Thankamani

Ratheesh Reghunandan's Thankamani, as a creative adaptation of a real life incident, works to some extent, but poor writing and execution in some places, jarring dialogues and also, the number of unnecessary characters smuggled into the plot makes it a poorly conceived product. The story follows the life of Abel Joshua Mathen, a Gulf returnee in Idukki's Thankamani. The infamous Thankamani incident takes place while Abel is home for a holiday. His family gets dragged into it and what follows after forms the crux of the film.



There were some scenes that stood out throughout, both good and bad. While there were no gory rape scenes on screen, the scene leading to it was long-drawn-out and emotionally painful. It's difficult to keep a straight face and continue watching. As much as it was difficult to look at the screen, that's one part that was done too well, with old school symbolism to show what happened.



The dramatisation also fails to give valid excuses for some of the things that happened, like a suicide, especially given the fact that the girl managed to stay alive in such horrifying circumstances in the beginning. There was only one poorly conceived scene that explores the background for the suicide, but the heft of that pain is not felt and what drove her to take such an extreme measure is not clearly conveyed, which points to issues with the writing. It simply seemed like drama for the sake of drama at that point.



The songs by William Francis were refreshing and even contributed to the film. The 'Penninte Peralla Thankamani' track will stay with the Malayali audience for a while.



The chief investigator role played by Pranitha Subhash was a major let down, with the actress overcompensating in some scenes, especially towards the end. However, Neeta Pillai shined in the limited screen time that she got. The same can be said for Dileep, whose make-up could have been done better. Manoj K Jayan had nothing much to do in the film and Ajmal Ameer's role served to fill the quota of a good looking cop beside the chief investigator. Will there be a time when an actor of Sudev Nair's calibre is offered better, meatier roles?