Thanga Meengal is a sincere, honest and a brave
cinema, it is not an ordinary & routine Tamil film that comes every Friday.
Thanga Meengal tells the story of a Father a school dropout who doesn’t have
any regular job struggling to make ends meet, his daughter is his world and the
two share great affection and care. Kalyani (Ram) is married to Vadivu (Shelly)
and is working in a silver polish unit. His daughter Chellama (Sadhana) is
studying in a Matriculation School, he is unable to pay the school fees since
his salary is due for more than four months. He goes to work in Kochi and the
rest of the story is how he gets back to his daughter is told in a heartwarming
manner.
Kalyani’s
father played by ‘Poo’ Ram is a retired government teacher who takes care of the
entire family. Chellama is unable to cope with the teaching style adopted in the
school & she is ridiculed by the teachers and the students, she has
learning disability similar to what we saw in ‘Taare Zameen Par’ but the
similarities end there. The film doesn’t address the medical condition of the
student but rather focuses on the childhood behavior.
Ram
takes a strong stance against the inefficiency of the schools to understand the
hidden talents of their children, he also shows how children get attracted and
prone to the happenings, incidents surrounding in their environment. The
emotional scenes between Kalyani and Chellama have been handled beautifully and
their conversations about Gold Fish, Santa, Death, are very lively. Ram has
given a great performance as a struggling father not able to fulfill his
daughter wishes, but the character lives in his own world much like Prabhakar in
‘Katradhu Tamizh’. He is happy, calm and peaceful in the company of his
daughter but his behavior is different with his wife, father and others.
Sadhana
is terrific as Chellama bringing a lot of energy and her expressions are
magnificent. The interactions between Chellama and her friend Nithyashree
(Sanjana) are the cutest moments of the film, their fantasies are bought out
wonderfully well. Padmapriya makes a cameo as Evita teacher and she doesn’t
have much to do but she adds dignity and credibility to the character. The
second half of the movie drags when Kalyani goes to kerala for work and goes in
search of a rainmaker in order to buy a pug for his daughter costing Rs. 25,000
The
location itself is a character in the film with green hills, pretty streams and
a railway track with frequent sound of passing trains, the cinematography by
Arbhinduu Saara is absolutely breath taking. He has captured joy, desperation,
tear of each & every character brilliantly. Music by Yuvan Shankar Raja is
out of the world to be honest right from the title credits to the end the BGM
is truly remarkable, the songs Aanandha
Yaazhai, Nathi Vellam are
great with wonderful
lyrics by Muthukumar. The paintings appearing in the title credits are
beautiful and they set the tone for the film.
Ram deserves a standing ovation
for making a brilliant film focusing on today’s educational system and how
private schools pressurize students. Despite its slow second half, high
melodrama in some scenes Thanga Meengal is a terrific, honest and a brave film
told with utmost simplicity which is a rarity in these days. A film is not
meant only for entertainment it also has to engage the viewer, make them travel
with the characters, immerse you with its visuals & music and finally leave
with a point, issue to debate and discuss.
Thanga Meengal is a must watch
for its honesty, approach and treatment.
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