Thundu

Thundu was a great chance missed to make a film about an Indian/Mallu Hoke Moseley.

Thundu is mostly about the mid life crisis of a police constable (played by Biju Menon) which begins when his son is caught copying in an exam. It is also about the internal politics and hierarchy in Kerala police - some of the antics of the incompetent police force reminded me of the movie Buffalo Soldiers (2001).

But the director and script writer are aiming for commercial success and the horrendous background score by Gopi Sunder bestows a feel good aura upon the relentless travails of an incompetent police officer. The scene where the depressed police constable narrates the tale about his horrible childhood to his son signals to me that the director and writer wanted to make some other movie but messed it up because their artistic ambitions were curtailed by commercial compulsions.

Biju Menon does a good job as the police constable. The rest of the cast including Shine Tom Chacko and Unni Maya Prasad (how does she even get movies?) are unremarkable at best.

Some of the sub-plots were ridiculous - especially the one involving the dog. Nothing even remotely fun about that part. What were they thinking?

Thundu is a very weak and pathetic attempt at comedy by first time director Riyas Shareef! It's highlights are poor direction and a weaker story line - I won't waste your time listing the various departments in movie making - practically each and every department has failed spectacularly; here the background music by Vishnu Vijay takes the cake - which is needlessly loud and untimely that grates continously on our nerves.

'Thundu' here refers to the pieces of paper with notes used for copying in exams - and the director showcases this by showing a 'smart' school boy's 'techniques' used in copying - before being caught by the invigilator.

Having established the title, he shows the boy's father - Biju Menon playing a police constable Baby - a bungling idiot without any other redeemable trait. He harasses a local, small-time politician for some supposed insult to the police force - maybe that was deserved but then goes overboard and insults one of his own colleagues (Shine Tom Chacko) too, when he tries to intervene in the issue. And that basically forms the one-line plot of the story - a story of one-upmanship between him and this colleague (Shine), who more often than not succeeds in humiliating him with help from the local politician.

In order to overcome these humiliations, Baby realises he needs to become a Head Constable which would enable him to pull rank over his colleague; and he attempts to achieve this by cheating in the requisite exams but is caught and transferred. Baby continues with his bungling life as before - and then decides to make yet another attempt at the exams. We expect both Baby and his son to work hard at their respective exams and win, but no. The idiot duo - director/writer - show both the father and son copying again. He even shows Baby taking 'tips on copying successfully without getting caught' from his 'expert' son! Why? Have you forgotten that they we're watching a comedy? And Baby fails again in the exams....

Now since Baby is the protagonist, the director cannot let him lose, right? Moreover, the movie has to end somewhere, and we all need to go home too? And so, Baby gets promoted on account of his seniority and that forms the end of this miserable story.

I don't know what the director/writer duo were smoking when they were discussing and finalising the plot line and the character arc? What kind of pathetic father takes tips from his schoolgoing son on copying in exams? How can this even be classified as a comedy? The ending would have been better had Baby worked and lost - without copying - which would have made his promotion sweeter too.

To summarise, this is a pathetic movie, totally avoidable - unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. My rating is 3/10.

@Biju, are you trying to become the next Mohan Lal by taking up meaningless roles in stupid c-grade flop movies - just when you have reached the zenith? Please be more choosy and try to avoid these type of disasters.

It looks like this movie is created to insult the entire Malayalam movie industry considering the recent Malayalam movies . There is no story at all and no direction on where the movie is going. Moreover what a misleading message it's giving to audience. In one word it's pathetic.

It infact started with a positive note for the first few minutes.

Biju menon is a great actor but the story and direction did not do any justice to this talented actor. Malayalam movie industry started this year with a bang and then came thundu. The name also give a hint that it's a third class movie with first class actors.

This movie is super bad and lacks flow in its storyline. It is a jumbled mess. You are thrown right into a weak scenario without proper introduction of the characters and you are left to fill the puzzle and find story in the movie. The background score was horrible and annoying. I don't understand how they thought it is a comedy movie. In fact, you will feel depressed and pity for the people who worked on it. I expected a better storyline from big stars like Biju Menon. I haven't seen such a weak movie in Malayalam industry in a long time. In my humble opinion, your life will be better if you don't waste your time watching this movie.

The film starts off really well with a cool stylish scene of students cheating on a difficult exam. But the movie definitely goes downhill from there. I think what sucks about this movie is that there couldve been a good movie here cause all the performances are solid and the way the movie is shot is very unique. But thats the only thing good about this movie. Everything else is so badly edited and the stakes are so poorly established that you would never think an actor like Biju Menon. The film was going in a confusing route and I was trying to find some excuse to turn it off. Then a scene came where a guy sadly returns to a dog and all the police officers start dancing for some reason. I didnt even understand why this was happening. I was so irritated that I turned off the tv. And i am a guy who liked malaikottai vaaliban, which many people also got irritated by. But this is ten times worse than that.