If you, like me are an inveterate cinema-goer, you’ve probably seen more than your fair share of lousy flicks and have, over time, built a certain immunity that allows you to stoically sit through any magnitude of cinematic disasters. But every once in a while (not very frequently, hopefully) comes a truly torturous movie that stretches you to the limit of your endurance. It then takes extreme effort to sit through the proceedings without leaving mid way. Often, you rely on other ways to amuse yourself, like eavesdropping on the argumentative couple seated ahead of you or following the rhythmic pattern of snores emanating from the elderly gentleman seated beside you. At the end of it all though, you wonder how the makers of the film managed to sit through their own creation (presuming at all that they did).
If today I am able to proudly record that I was able to sit through all of Thoonganagaram, it is thanks in no small measure to an extremely entertaining bunch of co-cinema watchers and some truly wonderful pop corn served at Satyam theatre. Alas, If only the director and the editor of the movie had been similarly blessed, they too could have seen the entire movie and realized beforehand , the magnitude of what they were about to inflict on their audience.
The Plot:
Set in Madurai (pictured with its famous landmarks like the Gopurams of the Meenakshi temple, the busy bus terminus and the Azhagar festival), Thoonganagaram (the city that never sleeps) tells the story of four lower middle class youth whose friendship is cemented at the local bar. One of the four (our principal hero), is reunited with his childhood sweetheart somewhere in the first half of the proceedings. This is shown through some standard flash back routines involving pesky school children, ill tempered adults and regulation skip and hop childhood games. Also introduced are the rich and powerful villain and his scheming, ruthless brother. Their entry is marked by predictable sequences involving intimidation and murder of upstanding citizens. Random sub plots involving tacky attempts at humor follow, before the screenplay finally moves ahead and the paths of the hero and the villains cross. After testing your considerable patience in the second half, the hero and villains decide to quit playing hide and seek and a bloody denouement follows.
My Take:
What can you say about a movie which in the name of humor has sequences involving a grown man farting into another man’s face? Where the comedy track consists of old women, betel leaves and spit fights. Tasteless humor apart, Thoonganagaram is also let down by a below average screenplay which is disjointed, predictable and incredulous. If in the first half it looks like it is meandering from one random single act to another, in the second it turns entirely predictable and fails to hold your interest. The saving grace (if there were one) in the movie is in the performance of the cast who for most part, look and play their roles well
The Verdict:
Don’t watch Thoonganagaram. Visit your dentist instead. It is at least more value for the same amount of pain.
:-) ..
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