- Date of Release: 21 October 2025
- Genre: Comedy, Horror, Romance
- Language: Hindi
- Watch On: Theatres Only
Thamma
Introduction
One of the big highs in the new Hindi film Thamma is during an action set-piece featuring a cameo from a character in the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe. That scene in particular, is so exhilarating that you will find yourself on the edge of your seat. What that scene also tells you is the interconnective tissue in the universe – more specifically the purpose of the protagonist Thamma (Ayushmann Khurrana) in this very universe, particularly with how the universe is expected to shape up later on. But the storyline on either side of this action set-piece tells you a different story – on how generic the origin story of Thama is. It remains a standard storytelling template that isn’t as exciting as some of the other films in the same universe. And the reason remains crystal clear – it doesn’t highlight the core conflict in play unlike say in Stree (2018) that had an underlying commentary on feminism, or Bhediya (2021) that shared a political commentary on capitalism. The only fall back strategy seems to be that this is a romantic ‘horror-comedy’ where romance is the driving force here – a trait that itself seems a generic one if not utilized correctly. For instance, this specific genre needs a cutaway concept like the one in Bones And All (2022) or even Aamis (2019). But if you choose to just play it safe by exhibiting a tale of survival with just implications of the folklore, then you are in trouble!
Story & Screenplay
Written by Niren Bhatt, Suresh Mathew and Arun Fulara, the generic nature of the writing in Thamma cannot be denied. And to fully understand this perspective, the ideal comparative example would be that of Lokah (2025), wherein you are just air-dropped in the latter. But the same doesn’t hold true for Thamma. In its cold-open taking place in 323 BC, you see an entourage lead by a foreigner attacked by vicious blood-sucking creatures in the middle of the forest. The issue lays in how a concept that would have worked on paper, was out in the open within its first reel, as opposed to say Lokah wherein the cards were pulled out only at the halfway mark.
Keeping that in mind, one of the weakest aspects of the writing remains the characterization in particular. When you are introduced to Alok (Ayushmann Khurrana), all you get to know is that he is a journalist waiting to break sensational stories with respect to the folklore – a concept that brings him to a forest before the adventure begins. There is never a try to introduce his world of thinking or his character motivations in the midst of the conflict, while simply opting for the lowest hanging fruit. The reason why characters from the Stree franchise are popular is because there was a considerable effort made in world building while also creating breathing space for the characters to thrive and have an identity of their own.
The same issue lies with the character of Tadaka (Rashmika Mandanna) who airdrops and saves Alok from a grizzly bear at first, while rescuing his life later on from members of her own clan. There is no buildup about her past at any point in the film, unlike Chandra (Kalyani Priyadarshan) in Lokah that had her origin story traced from the past. Just a passing reference to give yoh context about the presence isn’t enough either. The biggest flaw lays with the character of the antagonist Yakshasan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), who is just shown to be trapped in an abandoned cave for most parts of the film. As a result, the character itself is woefully underwritten while never really getting his due, even as the trajectory shifts to a romantic subplot. In every other case of films in this universe, the story has worked (partly or completely) because of the presence of a solid antagonist who is modelled to be intimidating and powerful.
The core of the writing focuses on the dynamics between Tadaka and Alok, seemingly aspiring to brew a heartfelt romance between the two entities. The dynamic attempted is that between Chandra and Sunny (Naslen) from Lokah, but in reality, the romantic subplot never really develops into a terrirory wherein you wish to root for either of the two characters. It is plain and flat, often induced with such childish humour and meta-references that stall the flow of the drama. Some moments of intrigue and entertainment are reserved when Alok introduces Tadaka to his parents – a seemingly chilled out mother (Geeta Agrawal Sharma) and a tense and questioning father (Paresh Rawal) that atleast forced me to break into a smile. But the question remained – what was even the conflict if it was thought out to be reactionary?
The romantic subplot does overstay its welcome to the point that the crux of the movie featuring a showdown between the good and the evil, is severely compromised. And much of it had to do with forced characterization of the supporting cast (a hybrid cop, a goofy doctor, three random item numbers in a universe boasting of feminism), along with moments that are neither really funny nor quite tense. And while the folklore did hold some promise somewhere, the writing almost felt like a case of reverse engineering the end, wherein the concept of ‘the chosen one’ is written backwards – almost like a writing penning a twist and then staging a story around it. The moments of horror are non-existent too, in a finale that exudes of zilch excitement – even as the faceoff is timid and middling. That said, the future of the universe does hold some exciting beats as confirmed in its mid-credit scene, but in an origin story wherein the best part is reserved for a cameo, then you do know that the writing hasn’t delivered here.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are corny, almost pulling references from the prevalent meme culture on the internet, something that will never work given how today’s memes will be stale tomorrow (that is how fast the trend changes). So gags like a wordplay on ‘virgin’ is bound to bomb, creating crickets in a semi-packed theatre, much like most humour that falls flat too. The music is actually good, even as the songs are catchy. But the integration of the songs in the narrative is equivalent to a circuit breaker, with a low effort to keep them engulfed in the narrative. Credit where due though – the sound design and BGM by Sachin-Jigar is outstanding, while elevating several sequences with a score that is pulsating and enticing in many ways. The cinematography comprises of frames that behold the grandeur of the drama too. The extensive shots featuring the folklore elements are wonderful to witness here, while even the use of AI in recreating animal figures is exceptional.
The editing pattern is pretty choppy here, given how the intention never is to pause and stay in the current emotion, while quickly venturing into the next available bucket of humour in play. Director Aditya Sarpotdar after the humongous success of Munjya (2024), doesn’t effectively find the same share of form here. This was a bigger test for him, and the pressure to deliver did reflect in his craft, which is otherwise pretty competent most of the time. The direction relies too heavily on wanting to balance the horror and comedy tropes in the narrative, as opposed to sticking to delivering a fine origin story. And remains one of the issues, along with the lack of characterization that doesn’t elevate the drama at any given point. In fact, the wavelength of the drama is flat without any spikes – a trait that is a clear indicator on how Aditya isn’t quite able to elevate the drama at any given point of time.
Performances
Surprisingly for such a huge film, even the performances are pretty middling to say the least. Barring that one splendid cameo (which I shall keep under wraps), none of the actors really standout here. Talented performers like Geeta Agrawal Sharma and Sathyaraj aren’t quite given handy characters, while only utilizing them as temporary comic reliefs. Faisal Malik as the police inspector is decent but I have witnessed far better performances by this veteran actor. Paresh Rawal as Ram Bajaj tries his best to land the humour of his character, but barring a couple of moments that had me crack up, the overall impact was pretty flat.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Yakshasan is first an underwritten character, only to be further drowned in a hammy fest of the highest order. Nawaz hams and hams and hams throughout his runtime, as opposed to a stealthy and fearful approach that he had employed in films like Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016) or even Badlapur (2015). The intimidation was bartered for a caricature, which was such a shame! Rashmika Mandanna is in a bit of a creative jail currently with respect to her performances that are way too mediocre for my liking. As Tadaka, she looks pretty and works beautifully with her expressions but you can’t quite look past her dialect that has a Kannada after-effect to it. You can easily make out that she isn’t very comfortable while speaking lines in Hindi, something that is evidently showcased onscreen. Ayushmann Khurrana as Alok is quite inconsistent too with his performance – at times going woefully overboard with his reactions, while never hitting the sweet-spot. A part of the blame would go to his poor characterization, that didn’t allow any room to invest in his emotions or his journey. But it was also his performance that never reflected of a possible chemistry with his co-star, while leaving little to no impact, overall.
Conclusion
Thamma is a middling horror-comedy with zero heartbeats that doesn’t really land with its emotions, laughter, or entertainment quotient, thereby making the drama a swing and a miss. Available in a theatre near you.