Jagame Thandhiram Review
Star Cast : Dhanush, James Cosmo, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Joju Georg
Director : Karthik Subbaraj
It’s evident from the first frame that Karthik Subbaraj's Jagame Thandhiram has been made as wacky as possible in the name of entertainment. There are no rules, logic, or formulaic patterns and it’s all about unabated madness. The script is a mess and some of the characters are so badly written that they just come and go in between, without any impact. The overindulgence of the makers is evident, ignoring the hapless viewers in the process.
Peter (James Cosmo) is a racist gangster who spearheads a lot of illegal activities in London; his primary enemy is Sivadoss (Joju George), a Tamil smuggler and gangster, who rules the underworld in UK. Sivadoss also helps the refugees from Sri Lanka to get permanent citizenship in foreign countries. To eradicate refugees and Sivadoss, Peter sketches a plan and brings in a Tamil rowdy Suruli (Dhanush) from Madurai.
Though Suruli enjoys quick and pompous money from Peter, the former realizes that what he did to Sivadoss and Tamils is nothing short of treason. The rest of the film is all about how Suruli revolts against Peter and his racist gang!
The very basic idea of bringing in a Tamil rowdy to London to eradicate the refugees sounds silly. What's more stupid is Peter believes in Suruli and provides him whatever he wants just because he is a Tamil or a brown-skinned man (as he says throughout the film). The movie runs out of steam towards the climax and is a lost opportunity.
Jagame Thandhiram has Dhanush written all over it. Suruli is a cakewalk for the actor, his uncanny humor and swag is the only saving grace in this brainless movie. When you have a popular star like Dhanush on one side, James Cosmo should've been super deadly but he ends up as a mere caricature who walks, laughs, and, utter cuss words.
Among the actors, talented Aishwarya Lekshmi once again gets a raw deal in Tamil. The ever-dependable Malayalam actor Joju George's Sivadoss is powerful but sadly, his character is half-baked! The supporting cast is all wasted. At 158 minutes, this one tests the patience of viewers in a major way. Even for those who are ready to try out something new, this could be a rather strenuous experience.
There is no humour as promised and on the whole, Jagame Thandhiram is a no holds barred experiment that ends up as a lost opportunity. And does Dhanush really want to do a second part of this film?
