One can painting a gaggle concerned in a specific commerce or perhaps a neighborhood from an outsider’s perspective, or have a look at them as somebody from inside would do. In Thankam, steeped in the world of the small-time brokers, workshop males and deliverers in the gold trade of Thrissur, director Saheed Arafath and scrip author Syam Pushkaran, select to do the latter. The track sequence through the opening credit — a montage of each exercise in this trade a lot of which operates just below the radar — units the tone for what’s in retailer.
It is a beautifully-crafted sequence which depicts the exact work, the dangers concerned, the expanse of the enterprise and the camaraderie between the principal gamers. When Kannan (Vineeth Sreenivasan), who delivers the completed gold to jewellers in numerous states, fastidiously ties an entire roll of paper full of gold bangles round his waist — as a precautionary measure earlier than his supply run — one will get an inkling of the perilous paths that he has to tread. It is that this path full of prospects of deceit and backstabbing that Thankam is worried with.
Muthu (Biju Menon)‘s gold enterprise depends on Kannan’s straightforward allure, with which he has constructed up a large community of contacts. The script is constructed round two incidents that occur throughout his gold run. The second incident, of Kannan going lacking in Mumbai with a substantial amount of gold, drives the movie. But we hold coming again to the seemingly minor first occasion, of Kannan, Muthu and their pal (Vineeth Thattil) touchdown in the police internet throughout a visit to Coimbatore. Aspects of their character, hitherto unknown, will get revealed as we go alongside, however a key facet of one of the characters is saved for the final.
Thankam
Director: Saheed Arafath
Cast: Vineeth Sreenivasan, Biju Menon, Girish Kulkarni, Aparna Balamurali
But even with the little that we all know of them, we stay invested in their lives, nearly as a lot as they’re in the gold, because of how they’re written. The girls (particularly Kannan’s spouse performed by Aparna Balamurali) although get under-written roles, with solely gold supplier Ambika (Indira Prasad) getting a powerful half. Actor Kochupreman, who handed away lately, will get one of probably the most memorable traces in the movie.
The movie takes off as a police procedural with the arrival of a Mumbai police staff led by an in a position officer (Girish Kulkarni in a brilliantly-essayed function). The investigation, whereas specializing in the whodunnit, can also be about letting us into the intricacies of the commerce and new sides of the characters. Humour retains popping up even amid the grimness of questioning and tailing the suspects, with the narrative hardly dropping its maintain on us.
This almost-stranglehold and the expectations constructed up by an investigation throughout geographies can have its negatives, as the large reveal in the top may be much less satisfying, relying on which method you have a look at it. Looking at it purely as an investigative thriller, what we get in the top could be a downer, however as a character study of somebody who reveals solely the perfect components of his life to these near him, it’s a winner. But the journey until that time is dealt with masterfully, whichever method you have a look at it.
Thankam is presently working in theatres