One Line Review: Jagame Thanthiram is a failed attempt even with such an ensemble cast.
YouTube Trailer Jagame Thanthiram
Starring: Dhanush, James Cosmo, Joju George, Aishwarya Lekshmi
Director: Karthik Subbaraj
What’s it About?
Taking into consideration the growing line-up of movies getting released on OTT platforms due to pandemics, Jagame Thanthiram was one of the biggest on the list because of two names – Karthik Subbaraj and Dhanush. Hence, the expectations too were pretty high about the movie. The movie, as its trailer gave away, is about Suruli – a local gangster from Tamil Nadu ending up in London
“Dhanush-in-veshti strides across sleety England streets in slo-mo, doing Rajini but wisely keeping it low key, channeling the street-smart, lovable scamp he specializes in.”
~ Indian Express
Our review for this gangster drama is 06/10.
Plot
Suruli,a local gangster ends up coming to London at per the invitation of one Peter who wants help in fighting over his enemies. Peter is a racist man who is against the immigrant invasion of his country and is trying hard to get a bill passed against them to make the place immigrant-free. His fight is against one Devadoss, an immigrant from Srilanka who fights for the rights of other immigrants in the country. Suruli joins hands with Peter to help him with his work by being a hitman of a sort without really knowing what he is dealing with.
Performances
For the first time, I’m going to mention another name apart from Dhanush when it comes to best performance in a ‘Dhanush Movie’ – James Cosmo. James did an extraordinary work being Peter on screen and delivered a memorable performance as a cold-blooded, ruthless villain. Apart from James, well obviously, the movie was a one-man show by Dhanush himself and we all know what he is capable of! Joju George too did commendable acting being Devadoss.
Review
Disappointing will be the word. When it comes to a Karthik Subbaraj movie, the minimum expectation itself will be for the movie to be at least good in all aspects – let it be technical or content wise because the man is well known for delivering the best always. The movie started slow, went high up when Suruli entered with his quirkiness and swag but again went low in no time and never came back up.
The plot and everything about the movie seemed confused or misplaced – well, I can’t find the right word but something wasn’t right. At times, the editing too was so clumsy that I had to recollect what exactly happened in the previous scene. The movie had no surprise elements or well, the Dhanush/Karthik factors in it which was a huge letdown. I couldn’t even spot two of my most favorite songs from the album too in the movie. The rest of the album, which was already chartbusters too didn’t do any good when taken as a whole.
Verdict
Jagame Thanthiram, unfortunately, is an avoidable movie. Dhanush does his best to carry the whole thing on his back but he can’t handle everything when the whole thing he’s trying to carry itself is a mess, right?
