- Date of Release: 01 May 2025
- Genre: Drama
- Language: Tamil
- Watch On: JioHotstar
Tourist Family
Introduction
The new Tamil film Tourist Family made me reminiscent of the Charlie Chaplin films that were light and funny on the surface, but having a tragedy to showcase as an underlayer. The focus here remains on a refugee family from Sri Lanka who flee their home in search for a new one, given the rise in inflation that had marred the emerald nation sometime back. In an early scene, you see Dharmadas (M Sasikumar) asking his wife Vasanthi (Simran) and his children Nithushan (Mithun Jai Sankar) and Mulli (Kamalesh Jagan) to board a boat in haste while looking seawards to the start of their new journey in Rameshwaram. Interestingly, the tone in this scene remains light despite having a background of a tragedy. You witness the family almost having an elation of joy on the boat with undertones of tragedy – Mulli exclaims that he cannot swin, Dharmadas vows to save him from the harsh sea, only for Mulli to retort that Dharmadas doesn’t know swimming himself. There is a story within a story waiting to be explored here, even though the smiles of the family distort the picture of an ongoing tragedy!
Story & Screenplay
You can immediately make out that Tourist Family is a film cut from the cloth of love, something that is true from its opening act. The cold open involves the family of Dharmadas getting caught on the shores of Rameshwaran, even before getting an opportunity to settle in. Yet, you know that this film is about love and not hate when the cop character of Bhairavan (Ramesh Thilak) buys into the claims of the family, and is wanting to give them a benefit of doubt despite being manipulated by Mulli, who constructs a false story. It is a leap of faith that not many tend to take in today’s world that is marred by hate and war while being triggered at the smallest of instances. In that regard, Tourist Family can also be termed as an anti-thesis of hate where love defines and connects all its characters alike, without differentiating based on caste, religion or in this case, nationality.
The character of Dharmadas remains the most affable of the lot – you see instances wherein he voluntarily checks on a random person dying on the streets, much to the dismay of his eldest son Nithushan. You also see him randomly checking upon a local drunkard in the neighbourhood, casually inquiring on whether he has eaten anything today. You see that he is a man of integrity, wanting to start a new life and earn a living for his family, a trait that sees him mark and memorize all the routes around his neighbourhood in order to get himself a job. The instructions given to his family by Prakash (Yogi Babu), Vasanthi’s kin, is simple – do not socialize and interact with anyone from the neighbour that comprises of an intimidating-looking but goofily friendly cop, a rich old man with firm principles, an old couple featuring an affable lady and her grumpy husband, to name a few. Yet through the chronicles of Dharmadas and his family, you discover the power of love and how a collective bout of positivity can have such a lasting impact in communities around us.
The tonal sweetness in the drama reminded me of the twin Tamil films Meiyazhagan (2024) and Ayothi (2023) that spoke the language of love. But what sets Tourist Family apart, is its consistent nature of comedy that superimposes the narrative. On any other day, you would feel a sense of dilution with regards to the larger issues that the film briefly touches upon. But the motive of the narrative is clear – it doesn’t wish to dwell too much on negativity, while allowing love to be the connecting tissue in the narrative. For instance in a scene, you see Dharmadas losing his cool on his employer while expecting to seal his ‘temporary’ job after a week, only to be rejected. Yet a few scenes apart, you see Dharmadas apologizing for his actions and revealing his true identity, only to then be confirmed of his job. In another pivotal scene, you see Nithushan, who up until then shares a distant and cold equation with his father Dharmadas, confront him by telling him on why he felt let down by him on having to lose his love during the migration. This remained a pivotal scene from the perspective of the family who could have easily been split-up at that point, only for Nithushan to go on about how he wished to attain a degree, get a job and free his father of all duties. So the emotion on a binary scale ranged from negative to positive, while bringing the family closer. There is also a stray incident on a bomb blast that takes place in Rameshwaram, but the event in itself is deliberately diluted so much so that the event or the victims aren’t showcased – with the focus just being on the aftermath of it. There is a sensw of innocence and warmth even in the most tragic events in the film!
The bittersweet moments lace the narrative while contributing to several heartfelt moments. You see Vasanthi sharing a warm bond with an elderly woman only for that love to percolate onto the elderly woman’s grumpy husband. Hence when an unexpected tragedy strikes, you see Dharmadas jostling to every household to bring the scattered community together, an event that instantly makes for a bittersweet moment in the film. In another instance, you see a character redefining the meaning of ‘God’ while referring to the character of Dharmadas, that accounts for an emotional moment for the ages – and it was enough to make this grown up man weep like a baby in the middle of the night! It is moments like these that paper over some of the cracks in the narrative featuring a few subplots that are either underwritten or slightly wavering from its theme. For instance, the platonic love story between Nithushan and Kural (Yogalakshmi) was deft but never quite found its voice. This was also true for the character of a North-Indian cop that was showcased to be a ‘villain’ as opposed to bringing him also in the blanket of love. After all, he was also an ‘outsider’ like the family of Dharmadas (but this was balanced by another Punjabi character who eventually sided with Dharmadas in a pivotal scene). But the theme of universal brotherhood is expertly handled here with the entire community speaking in the dialect of Dharmadas and his family, a pivotal portrayal of a borderless world in times of divide and hate! In that regards, the screenplay is beautifully penned and touches all the right notes while gently tugging the strings of your heart!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are dipped in saccharine while ably maintaining a light tone to the proceedings. In a way, the drama here is presented as a comedy on the surface while having an undercurrent of tragedy, a trait wonderfully exploited by the lines. The music is soothing and melodious while wonderfully imbibing the spirit of the drama. The BGM is slightly manipulative, particularly while distinguishing between the moods of a comedy and a tragic drama. The lines are clearly demarcated and insinuated with the help of the BGM, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing here. The cinematography comprises of frames that allow you to be connected emotionally to all the characters, while remaining quite balanced with its tonalities without manipulating the viewers in any way. For instance, during a comedy scene at the start involving the revelation of Mulli and how he had lied to get his family out of ‘trouble’, you don’t see the camera zooming into Mulli too much, in a way to drive home the theme of a comedy. This remained a big plus given how distracting the film could have been. The editing was slightly patchy but because the screenplay was so well written, the patchy transition shots didn’t seem to bother me too much.
Director Abishan Jeevinth is another heartfelt addition to the list of directors who have left a lasting impact in their debut vehicle. Abishan’s persistence of making love and positivity the central theme of the film is quite evident. And that is what made the film a tricky proposition given that there was manipulation involved in the filmmaking process (as opposed to allowing emotions to flow naturally). This also meant that the emotions needed to land on the sweet spot without having any scope for error. And Abishan does that to utter perfection here – he allows the emotions to land beautifully through his characters and the situations that he creates along the way. In fact the emotions are so strong that it trascends beyond the walls of the cinematic screen while infusing you with a warm and fuzzy feeling. The direction explores this core so wonderfully well that it comes out as a straight winner here!
Performances
The performances are wonderful to witness by the members of the cast. Here, I also did get to witness Abishan Jeevinth the actor rise to the occasion. As the local drunkard, his performance is brimming with emotions that have an outburst in the pre-finale, so much so that it made me weep like a baby. It just reflects on his persona of being filled with love in real life too. The veterans Elango Kumaravel as Gunasekar, Sreeja Ravi as Gunasekar’s wife and M S Bhaskar as Richard deliver such heartwarming performances that will potentially engulf you with pure emotions. Bagavathi Perumal as Inspector Raghavan and Yogi Babu as Prakash add distinct flavours of humour while serving wonderful performances. Ramesh Thilak as Bhairavan is such a heartwarming character that wins you over in the opening act, while being sincere with his performance in a way that he comes across as affable. Yogalakshmi as Kural is understated and delivers a dignified performance with utmost earnestness. Ramkumar Prasanna as ACP Balwan Singh has his moments to shine.
Kamalesh Jagan as Mulli is a firecracker and a mischievious character that always reeks of innocence but also accounts for several funny scenes. He is a treat to witness here. Mithun Jai Sankar as Nithushan is a character brimming with emotions and a personal tragedy, and he exploits the vulnerability of his character really well through his body language and expressions. Simran as Vasanthi is incredibly good here in a character that is understated but extremely supportive of her family. There is a genuine amount of warmth that you feel from her character, even while always being emotionally connected to her, wherein she puts forth a wonderful act. M Sasikumar as Dharmadas is brilliant to the core often being a man of actions while suppressing the pain and angst within him. The compassion in his character is an offshoot of his own pain that transforms into an outwardly act of love, and this trait is wonderfully exploited through his antics. His eyes speak a thousand words with regards to his painful past, but his body language is reflective of his actions of love with regards to his present. And this beautiful concoction is summed up in a heartwarming performance that did tug the strings of my heart gently.
Conclusion
Tourist Family is a heartwarming ode to love, compassion and universal brotherhood that will gently tug the strings of your heart while making you weep along the way. It is just the film needed in times of hate and divide where negativity sells like hot cakes. Available on Jiohotstar and Highly Recommended!