It's Impossible To Review 'Thangalaan' Without Drawing The Ire Of Some Group

If you're sharp-eyed and tend to look out for such things, you'd have already noticed that this article doesn't carry a byline.

And that's deliberate.

It is not as if the writer wants to be anonymous but just prefers to make a point by drawing attention to the situation in Tamil Nadu, where who reviews a film is unfortunately more important than how it is done.

Any name reference will make people mine into the caste background of the writer, which, in the ecosystem as it is sustaining in the state, is deemed to decide everything. Critics are criticised for their views based on their caste.

Already, some senior film reviewers find themselves over the coals for making less than flattering remarks on the new release, Thangalaan. That they happen to be Brahmins is held against them, as the film's director is Pa Ranjith, a Dalit who is unabashed about pushing the narrative in his works that seeks to draw attention to the oppressed plight of the Dalit community.

Ranjith has the prerogative to make films as he deems fit. There can't be two opinions on that. But by the same token, critics too have the freedom to see the movie through their own prism. As long as it is downright dishonest or dubious, all kinds of criticism should be deemed par for the course.

But the state of affairs is such that any reasonable but blunt appraisal of the film is conveniently extrapolated to be anti-Dalitism, and the tag 'casteist' is casually flung at.

The irony is that it is not Ranjith or his team that indulge in this convenient skulduggery. But it is mostly the unknown warriors of Dravidianism who are inevitably at it.

The Dravidian Cheat Game

It is fair to assume that these faceless lackeys of Dravidology, mostly belonging to the intermediary castes of Tamil Nadu, play this nefarious game in a bid to further vilify the one community that they have made a career out of badmouthing.

That the Dravidian groups have their own axe to grind against Ranjith and are also coming down on the film is the real tragedy (and a metaphor for the topsy-turvy reality of Tamil Nadu).

But while this sinister stratagem of the Dravidian types is well known and not too difficult to ignore or see past, it is equally a fact that the films of Ranjith and the directors of his type (Mari Selvaraj, say) put some of the critics in both an emotional and intellectual quandary. Should the film be seen for what it is, or should the underlying message, which is no doubt to strike a resonating blow for the oppressed Dalits, be given more weight? Is the message bigger than the method?

Don't even bother wrestling with it, as there are no right answers to the question. If you have watched Thangalaan, you will, however, be faced with this unenviable dilemma. Some of the serious critics were doubtless faced with this predicament, as could be seen with their reviews, which tended to be sliding towards verbal salad, as they looked keen to be nice to the film based on its intention rather than its execution.

One review had these lines: "But then, Ranjith also asks, What is true wealth? What is real gold? Hint: Character name. Hint: Golden appearance at the end of the film. Thangalaan is a film about a search-party on the lookout for gold, yes, but it’s deep enough to launch a critique of material greed by telling us that one’s identity, one’s harmonious existence with the environment, is real wealth. This isn’t politics; this is profound enough to be philosophy."

This is not to take jibes at the said reviewer but brought up just to point out the conundrum faced by sincere critics like him. The above lines, even if they sound weighty and sympathetic, don't say much. Fluff in film reviews is part of the deal.

Writers showing flourish is no crime. Actually, it’s welcome. But this leans towards desperation, a compulsion to be sympathetic to a film that doesn't quite have the material to support the same.

Ranjith Not On Firm Ground

In Thangalaan, Ranjith doesn't quite show the same commitment to craft that he exhibited in films like Attakathi (2011), Madras (2014), and Sarpatta Parambarai (2021). To be honest, his ambitions are more open and large here, but the execution (writing and filmmaking) flounders.

If you are accommodating, you will say that the film has many layers. But if you are candid, you will feel that Thangalaan is never sure as to what it wants to be.

At one level, it is a plot about those exploited by forces of power and pelf. The portions that are about how a bunch of hapless tribals are forced to take up gold mining for an evil gang are almost KGFesque.

And then there is how the bunch of foolhardy villagers join the Britishers in their quest to find gold, which plays out like a western adventure film (without, of course, the cowboys).

There is also the undercooked magic realism part where the eponymous Thangalaan's inner emotions get an outside play.

There is a small stretch on Buddhism and an outright swipe at Brahminism. There is plenty of symbolism, too.

But, honestly, none really sticks, as the film has no strong emotional core. And that is the real issue with Thangalaan, as the film just wants to be a vehicle for a larger message. That is not how good art works. Great truths or good ideals stick if the underlying creativity is unignorable.

Message Makes A Mess

It is not just with Thangalaan. This week's other Tamil release, Raghu Thatha, also suffers from the same message syndrome.

Fine if you want to make points against Hindi imposition (which is what that film is about), but the film suffers from being too clever for its own good. It is more breezy and humorous, but still, the writing is not crafty enough to push the message part to be an agreeable and inevitable byproduct.

The film is set in a fictional town named Valluvanpettai. This is heavy-handed writing, inviting attention to itself and the film's larger message.

But pointing this out will again draw the ire of the language polemicists, and the charge of being a 'sold out Sanghi' will flow unthinkingly. And that is the tragedy of Tamil Nadu, where intellectual rigour is increasingly difficult to practice.

Anyway, a word to the filmmakers. Making movies with a message is not a crime. But do it with flair and finesse. Or else, you are doing a disservice to both the message and the medium.

Moral of the story: Interweave the moral of the story into the narrative imperceptibly without having to draw observation with a desperate rubric in the end.