It's good to see Dominic Arun and his co-writer Anil Narayanan acknowledge the fact (during the opening credits) that they're heavily inspired by the works of Tarantino, Guy Ritchie and Edgar Wright (who are true masters of dark humor!) - the vibe is exactly that of a 'Snatch' or a 'Pulp Fiction' or a 'Hot Fuzz', with a tinge of 'Priyadarshanisms' and 'Siddique-Lalisms' thrown in to indianize the proceedings. This takes our protagonists on a roller-coaster ride from one funny subplot to the other, with a truckload of characters (each with their own wacky sense of humor) trying to tickle the viewer's funny bone during the most uncanny of occasions (like a stabbing gone wrong, a suicide, an apparently cheating wife, a girlfriend who happens to be a kleptomaniac, a case of the wrong person getting kidnapped). Pappan has to repay Ittymani (Alencier Ley) a lumpsum he'd taken from him as a bribe for covering up a hit-n-run incident. The story soon shifts to two cops who are on suspension - Pappan (the sensational Tovino Thomas) and Joy (Balu Varghese, who's just too good at playing the side-kick), due to a botched operation that resulted in the untimely (and completely funny) demise of one of their superiors (Manoj K Jayan, in a cameo). We already get a feeling that this movie is by all means, NOT going to look like the typical comedy- thriller that we're used to seeing in Malayalam cinema. In other words, it is one of those films that seems to have been simply born out of lockdown boredom.The beginning of Dominic Arun's "Tharangam" (bankrolled by Dhanush's Wunderbar films) reminds you of a cult- classic from the 80s - "Pappan Priyapetta Pappan" - set in paradise, a conversation ensues between God (the funniest on-screen version of him at least, played by Dileesh Pothan) and Kallan Pavithran (who was beaten to death and now observes his offspring suffer too, as the karmic outcome of all his criminal deeds), half the stretch shown in a comic-book styled animation with voice-overs, and the other half featuring the actors themselves. It may have the design of a home invasion thriller, but is it one? It is certainly another entry in what I want to describe as the 'lockdown boredom series of movies'. Shine Tom Chacko and Jaffer Idukki play brief roles in the film. He is poised and composed in many parts of the movie and riveting in others. The film's unintentionally funny moments feature this grossly underrated actor. Irshad plays the other person in the house. I could not tell whether Samyuktha's Anu is torn between two alpha males because both do not make her comfortable or because of another reason. Samyuktha Menon has the least interesting part of the three, and it does not help that the actor is also not up to the task. It is a facet he should internalize, but the actor has simply come up short. That has more to do with the performance of Arjun Ashokan than the writing. But we do not quite see a specific shade of Sanjay for the character or the film to work. It is a flawed mind-set that reeks of years of prejudice against women and a toxic male ego. Sanjay is the kind of man who feels that he has a sense of ownership over the woman in his life.
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