Thankam follows the story of two Gold Agents who make their way from their hometown to Mumbai until there is a murder committed. Who is the killer? The story here will actually take you by surprise. And I say this because the manner in which the drama did start to the final end of the film, it did seem like two separate films. Yet trust the Malayalam film industry to serve you something different every single time. And therein lies the brilliance of Thankam. The screenplay standing at about a 145 minutes is a fascinating character study masked as a murder investigation, a tricky concept on paper which only could have been pulled off with precision.

The drama does open on an unusual note. Usually you would associate the drama to open with a bit of a character buildup or a world building. But the makers took a chance and opened the drama with a song with the characters going about their daily chores while the song played out. This was a genius start and it did give me a lot of hope given the bold choice for an opening act. Soon you are introduced to the principal characters in a drama which is a bit of a slow burn.

One of the strongest pillars of the film is its writing. And I say this because the writers lead the audience in a certain direction before making a U-turn at about the halfway mark(or a little before it). There are two investigations that take place here, one being a much smaller and trivial one in the larger scheme of things, and the other forming the crux of the story. There are small doses of black humour which are cleverly infused in the story. It almost wants you as a viewer to question as to where are the things headed. Yet, the massive twist at about the halfway mark completely changes the entire scenario wherein the drama does become a procedural investigative thriller following a murder!

The events are unassuming and engrossing with a keen eye on the detailing. The manner in which the investigation is carried out with all the events in the first half being linked with utmost importance in the second half, did make me want to study it further. Every little events takes place in a sequence that slowly pieces together a giant jigsaw puzzle that felt just so organic. I can never forget that terrific and elaborate cat and mouse sequence at a theatre towards the dying minutes of the film. The parody being that there was a ‘film-like’ situation at the home of movies! Which does bring me to the grand reveal which may again divide opinions! Many may term the ending as underwhelming and ending with a whimper. All I can say is it is another bold ending from the Malayalam Film Industry. I shall be throwing a few insights in my next paragraph, so SPOILERS IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPHS!

The police had concluded that Kannan had staged his own murder and had eventually committed suicide. This becomes increasingly hard to accept for people around him, most of whom are in denial. And this piece of information was equally shocking, given that Kannan was an ever-smiling and affable person. So why would he commit suicide? There have been reasons which are floated in the film of him being in severe debt. But if you look closely, there was an effort made into going into the psyche of the character who was suffering from depression. Often, those people are seen smiling without people around them having a clue about their mental illness.

Same was the case with Kannan. He was always smiling, only momentarily seen getting angry with Muthu over a trivial issue before returning to his ‘normal’ behavior as seen in the first hour. But no one was aware of the mountain of pain that he was carrying within him that eventually prompted him to stage his murder so that his family doesn’t have to bear the burden of his debt. If at all a minor criticism, the writing could have allowed the viewers to spend a little more time with Kannan but perhaps the motive always was to view him from the other end, just like the other characters. Overall, the screenplay was another writing masterclass by an industry who is setting new benchmarks in the mainstream!