Jagame Thandhiram
RATING
Introduction
This weekend has a major distraction of WTC finals. The first day’s play of the final of the WTC was washed out yeaterday dampening some of my excitement. But lets hope we get play from day 2 onwards. Before Day 2 begins, I have finished watching the second biggie of the weekend after Sherni. The film is the original Tamil film Jagame Thadhiram on Netflix which is dubbed in as many as 17 languages and shown across 190 countries across the globe making it the biggest Indian Netflix release ever. Its trailer seemed to be super promising, is the film as good, stay tuned.
Story & Screenplay
Jagame Thadhiram follows the story of a local Tamil gangster who is called to the UK to eliminate a nemesis for a gangster named Peter. Soon, our protagonist is torn between his ideologies of good vs evil. The story is a mass masala entertainer and it also deals with a relevant subject of immigrants(without revealing too much). First word about the screenplay standing at 2 hours and 38 minutes is that it is way too long. Atleast 30 minutes could have easily been chopped off at the edit table. But that isn’t done and what translates is that certain sequences are dragged and you will feel slightly bored. But the good part is that whenever you feel that the drama is getting out of hand, something in the screenplay pops up that regains your attention. While the first half is about our protagonist setting up his feet in London, the second half deals with the issues of the immigrants with a good flashback tale. Both the first and second halves are inconsistent(I had super high expectations from the film), but there are moments of brilliance that make the proceedings entertaining too. I enjoyed the final gun battle in the pre climax but the end seems a little abrupt and a little debatable of whether the writers really wished to end it on that note. But overall, although short of my massive expectations, the screenplay has enough ammunition to keep you entertained.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are well penned here. The music is good but the BGM is one of the heroes of the film. It adds a lot of excitement to the drama and really lifts it to some extent. The film is technically brilliant too! I loved the action design and the cinematography that had some amazing frames to boast of. Director Karthik Subbaraj has done a decent job. The direction is pretty good but by his high standards, it falls a little shot. Probably, the extra flab in a certain sequences should have been trimmed out for a crisper edit.
Performances
The performances are pretty good. One of my favourites Joju George as Sivadoss oozes of style and does a fabulous job. Sharath Ravi as Vicky is pretty good. So is Deepak Paramesh as Dharani and Sanchana Natarajan as Valli(in a small cameo). Kalaiyarasan as Dheepan is first rate. I really enjoyed the presence of Roman Fioni as John too. Aishwarya Lekshmi as Attila has impressed me to no bounds. What I initially thought of as a love interest or a mere prop was indeed a surprise package in the second hour. She has a tremendous screen presence and has done a fine job, hope to watch more of her going forward as well. James Cosmo as Peter has that trait of intimidating someone and he does a fine job with it. And the show belongs to our OG Dhanush who is excellent yet again as Suruli. His style and demeanor are his USP coupled with great acting and some good action stunts. His presence is one of the reasons why this half baked drama works!
Conclusion
Jagame Thadhiram is a stylised mass masala entertainer. It is an old wine in a new bottle with a little twist but still is engaging to the point of it being watched once. Fans of Dhanush will love it! If you love your share of masala entertainers then do give it a try, else steer clear! Available in Netflix.