The real stars of director Bala’s Tharai Thappattai are Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and R K Suresh. Bala’s signature style character molding was there in Tharai Thappattai, but unfortunately the story that narrates the miserable life of the backward classes isn’t that emotionally captivating.
Sannasi has this group of dancers and musicians who performs at festivals to earn a living. Sooravali is the main lead of the dancers and she loves the stubborn Sannasi. The film ultimately shows us their love story filled with heartbreaking turn of events.
On a writing level Bala hasn’t succeeded in giving the content an engaging feel. But his style of creating eccentric characters with raw nature has created pulled out some terrific performances which will definitely stay in the hearts of the viewers. Other than those performances the roughness in picturing the harsh reality manages to grab the viewer’s attention. Certain clichéd treatment and predictable tragic angle of the story disturbs the whole film.
More than Sasi Kumar, it is Varalaxmi Sarathkumar who stunned me. The expressions, the emotional transformation and the phase change the character of Sooravali undergoes were portrayed terrifically by the actress. The other performer is R K Suresh who portrayed superbly as the antagonist Karuppaiyah. Sasi Kumar might have improved his dancing skills, but the acting part still remains a bit tacky.
Bala once again manages to squeeze out the best from all his performers. In terms of visualization and creating dialogues there is this unrefined feel which creates humor and sincere feelings. The flaw is mainly in the story and screenplay which fails to strike the chord with the audience. Certain subplots don’t have much of relevance. Pain is there definitely when we see those really brutal scenes in the second half of the movie. Music from Ilaiyaraaja was fine.
On the whole, Tharai Thappattai doesn’t completely manage to create that long lasting pain which it should have created. But I have to say that Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and R K Suresh have performed exceedingly well. Watch it for those performances.
Tharai Thappattai doesn’t completely manage to create that long lasting pain which it should have created. But I have to say that Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and R K Suresh have performed exceedingly well.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
