ALL THAT GLITTERS

“Thankam” is a good movie — a mix of a thriller a police procedural — that stops short of being excellent. It grips you enough to keep you guessing what might happen next throughout, until the somewhat tame albeit surprising end to an intricate story that takes you from Kerala to Tamil Nadu and then to Maharashtra on the trail of Kannan, a gold agent who goes missing during a gold run from Thrissur to Mumbai, where he is found dead in a lodge under suspicious circumstances.

A police officer from Chembur enters the scene to lead an investigation into the death. The movie then begins to unravel an intricate web of shady dealings, suspicious associates and elaborate plans, building up enough intrigue for a pervading sense of ‘nothing is what it looks like’. Kannan’s closest friends are involved; so are some old friends from another time. Along the way there are corrupt cops and dead end leads. Is Kannan really who we think he is? Or is he mixed up in something bigger? Watch the movie to find out! (Sorry, no spoilers here!)

Vineeth Srinivasan as Kannan, Biju Menon as his best friend Muthu and Vineeth Thattil as Bejoy take the lead in pushing the story forward, with other characters filling up missing pieces in the story. Indira Prasad as Ambika Chechi is memorable in how she brings nuance to her limited screentime.

The star in this movie for me though, is Girish Kulkarni. He scorches the screen as Inspector Vijay Sakhalkar, a committed police officer who is the epitome of cool efficiency, with the right amount of charm, menace and aggression on call.

Several times during the movie I was tempted to fast forward, only because I was somewhat impatient to find out how it ends (and I actually had the option on OTT unlike in a cinema theatre). I didn’t though.

Watch the movie for its plotting and pacing, with some very good performances from the cast, despite the end, which is a tad underwhelming.

***

SIDE NOTE:The story of this movie is directly derived, down to specific details, from a real life case (2017) of a jeweller from Thrissur who was found dead in Mumbai.

MORE INFORMATION HERE:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11086194