Thanga Magan

The new venture of the VIP team, Thanga Magan starring Dhanush is more on the emotional side. The elaborately stretched first half and the uneven second half has definitely dragged the movie in to an average zone, but certain style of depiction of relationships makes the movie look refreshing occasionally. The heroics and attachments can’t really establish the sort of depth Velraj showed in VIP and thus Thanga Magan becomes an okay film with highs and lows.

Thamizh is this young boy in a middle class Tamil family and after the usual jobless young days and a breakup he decides to go for a job which he got because of his father. Some issue that bothered Tamizh’s father went to a level that shattered the family completely. The movie ultimately is about Tamizh’s attempt to find out the real reason behind all those miseries.

The entire first half is not irrelevant when you look at the plot. Elements shown in those portions were necessary to create certain whys in the second half. But it is the elaboration of those events which is causing hiccups in enjoyment. The real plot gets discussed only in the second half of the film. And that also needs a little more spicing up to have that commercial appeal which we are looking for. Thanks to the graceful chemistry of Samantha and Dhanush, the movie manages to be engaging largely because of that.

Dhanush as always with his physical flexibility carries the lead role smartly. Finally I got to see Samantha doing a character with attractive simplicity. Their chemistry as husband and wife was also good. Amy Jackson was just okay. Sathish scores in those comedy scenes. Radhika Sarathkumar, K S Ravikumar and Adith Arun did their roles neatly.

Velraj who made VIP with abundant humor and heroics can’t establish that with Thanga Magan. The humor is there, but it is discrete. The heroics are only limited to last half an hour or so, that too look slightly overdone. Dialogues also needed sharpening. I liked the way he wrote and developed those relationships inside the family. That was probably the best part of the film. Anirudh’s tracks aren’t that catchy. Cinematography was good and the cuts were also fine.

Overall Thanga Magan is average. The extensive screenplay was a little unnecessary and the attempt to be another VIP also didn’t work out well.  It is a watchable film because of some good performances.