Thirumanam - Dissects the Indian wedding
Cheran one of the most respected socially conscious filmmakers is back with 'Thirumanam' that delves deep into exorbitant expenses that are incurred by the middle class due to a wedding that mostly affects the girl's family. Whether this old fashioned flick finds its takers among the current generation audience remains to be seen.
Mahesh (Umapathy Ramaiah) belonging to a zamindar family works as an RJ in a popular radio station and is in love with a middle-class girl Aadhiraiselvi (Kavya Suresh) for seven months only through messages after which they meet and the girl tells him that she can marry him only with the blessings of her mother and brother. Initially, reluctant both the boy's elder sister Manonmani (Suganya) and the girl's elder brother Arivudainambi (Cheran) agree for the marriage. Arivudainambi a income tax department officer is stingy and tries to bring down the expenses as much as he could while Manonmani wants the grandest wedding for her kid brother. Tensions arise between the elders which cause heartbreak for the youngsters and whether the two get married or not forms the rest of the screenplay.
Cheran is a perfect fit for the miserly elder brother character and in the initial scenes he is even a little irritating when harping on old world values and systems. But as the story progresses one has no choice but to agree with his arguments of the unwanted expenses that are incurred in a wedding which pushes the families into debts. Suganya as the elder sister of the hero goes all out melodramatic and could appeal to the serial loving section in the audience. The young pair Umapathy and Kavya Suresh are both apt as the young pair but the love between the two is not written strong enough to sympathize with either. M.S. Bhaskar as the boy's maternal uncle and Thambi Ramaiah as the girls foster uncle both bring their vast experience to the screen but they too are required to be more melodramatic than natural. Bala Saravnan tries his best to tickle the funny bones with very little success.What works best in 'Thirumanam' is the argument by Cheran that the unwanted expenses that a wedding brings to the girl's family put them in deep debts which is true in the middle-class life. The film is also clean on content and intentions focussing on family values.
On the downside the 'Thirumanam' is closer to a television soap than a film and there is a heavy outdated melodrama in the performances of the entire cast. Organic farming is the favorite social commentary of filmmakers currently and Cheran crams it into the screenplay quite inorganically.
Music by Siddharth Vipin, background score by Sabesh Murali, cinematography by Rajesh Yadav and editing by Ponnuvel Damodharan are all on par with the demands of the script. Cheran has surely chosen a relevant subject and has given a family film but could have concentrated on presenting the screenplay in a more interesting and updated manner.
Verdict : Go for it if you fancy family dramas with a relevant message
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