News Tamil Nadu

TNM Gives A Perfect 5/5 For Pa. Ranjith’s Thangalaan Despite Film’s Lukewarm Response, Netizens Question TNM’s Credibility And Neutrality

August 16, 2024
The Commune

Tamil film director Pa Ranjith’s film Thangalaan, starring Vikram, was released on 15 August 2024. The film, released amid heightened expectations, was a damp squib for movie watchers. However, Dravidianist and leftist mouthpiece TNM gave it a perfect 5/5 for the movie in their review.

What Is The Film About?

Thangalaan is a historical drama set in the 1800s during British rule in the Kolar region known for its gold deposits. The story revolves around Clement, a British officer eager to exploit the ancient gold mines of Tipu Sultan in Kolar, Karnataka. To achieve this, he seeks labour from a tribal village in Veppur, North Arcot, known for its mining skills. He promises to share the wealth with them, aiming to lift them out of poverty. Thangalaan, a tribal leader played by Vikram, agrees to the offer, driven by a desire for self-respect and a better life for his people, who have long been oppressed.

However, the tribals fear Aarathi, a mystical guardian believed to protect the gold. Thangalaan has encountered Aarathi’s fierce power before but believes things will be different this time. The group, led by Thangalaan and accompanied by Clement, embarks on a journey to Kolar to seek gold, facing challenges along the way. The film explores whether they find the gold, if the legend of Aarathi is true, and whether Clement genuinely helps the tribals improve their lives.

What Went Wrong With The Film?

The film was loaded with expectations since it was a Vikram-Pa.Ranjith combination. However, the film fell flat on its face, with a few positives as its saving grace. 

Vikram delivers a powerful and transformative performance, creating a memorable presence despite potential shortcomings in the screenplay or editing.

The film attempts a daring and experimental form, similar to Pa. Ranjith’s previous works. It focuses on visuals and minimal backstory to establish the film’s world.

Certain scenes, such as Thangalaan’s transformation when aligning with Clement, are visually impactful and symbolic.

Let’s take a look at the negatives:

The film’s structure, which seems to mimic a hallucination, creates a disjointed and chaotic narrative that confuses the audience.

Despite dealing with heavy themes like oppression and betrayal, the film failed to evoke a strong emotional response, feeling generic and surface-level. Apart from Thangalaan, other characters, including those played by Parvathy Thiruvothu and Malavika Mohanan, are underdeveloped, and their actions sometimes lack sense. The film lacks sufficient setup and character moments, making it difficult to feel emotionally invested when something bad happens to a family member.

Several key arcs, such as Pasupathy’s journey, Thangalaan’s relationship with his people, and Hari’s dynamic with his wife, are underdeveloped and have no clear beginning, middle, or end.

The big action set pieces where VFX makes an entry involving panthers and snakes do not work effectively, diminishing their intended impact. Despite the big budget, the visuals, score, and action set pieces fail to deliver the expected cinematic impact. The film’s cinematography fails to delve into the characters’ psyches, with an overreliance on wide shots and a lack of memorable frames. The direction lacks strong staging of set-piece moments, and the editing feels rushed, leading to a frustrating viewing experience.

The geography and positioning of characters in many sequences are unclear, leading to confusion about what is happening in certain scenes.

Some crucial dialogues are difficult to understand due to a problematic sound mix, which affects the plot’s overall understanding.

The film’s screenplay lacks coherence and depth, leading to a less emotionally impactful narrative. Overall, the film attempts an ambitious blend of adventure and drama but struggles to bring its various elements together satisfactorily.

 

TNM’s Hypocrisy

Despite these flaws, the News Minute, a Dravidianist-Leftist mouthpiece, rated the film 5/5. Pa. Ranjith’s films often receive such ratings from TNM, regardless of their merits or flaws.

The same TNM reviewed Maharaja and gave it a 3.5/5. The film reflected a male perspective, which is unsurprising given its male creator. Portals like TNM remain silent about similar issues in their preferred directors’ works. Take Attakathi, for example. Such inconsistent criticism lacks substance and seems aimed merely at sounding contrarian.

Pa Ranjith’s ‘Natchathiram Nagargirathu’ was also given high ratings even when unpalatable to his followers. It seems one cannot criticise Pa Ranjith without getting cancelled.

The film seems to present a skewed historical perspective, portraying British colonizers in an overly positive light, almost like saints. In a scene, the Britisher makes a kind statement in English. But a Brahmin interpreter deliberately mistranslates it to “serve his interests”. Thus, the film successfully portrays the Brahmin as the primary antagonist.

However, this portrayal overlooks significant historical realities, such as the Criminal Tribes Act by the British. This Act criminalized large segments of lower-caste populations. However, the reviewer conveniently omitted it and didn’t raise a question on the inaccuracy.

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