Thakkol Malayalam Movie

Feature Film | 2019
Critics:
'Thakkol' has a riveting premise of clergy life and the inner conflicts of a junior priest when his past refuses to leave him. Notable performances by actors leave an impression but the dramatic plot with shades of thriller loses the momentum at the decisive phase.
Dec 8, 2019 By K. R. Rejeesh


Helmed by Kiron Prabhakaran, 'Thakkol' has a fabulous plot structure blended with biblical references as a riveting factor. The agony of a junior priest, who is destined to lead a servitude kind of life, is well etched in this semi-thriller written by the director. In fact, it's the soliloquy of Ambros Vaas, played by Indrajith Sukumaran, who tries to reinvent himself while living among the clergy. The riveting premise is something first-of-its-kind in Malayalam Cinema and the inner conflict among the clergy gives it a novel appeal.


From his childhood, little Ambros (Rushin S Kailas) is deprived of his freedom of expression due to the dominance of the priest of the church Mankunnath Paili (Murali Gopy). As an orphan, he is like a slave in front of Paili, who behaves with him very harshly. Ambros has to give up his teenage love due to the interference of Paili. After growing up, Ambrose leads the same old life behind Paili. Once Ambros gets a chance to become the priest of his birthplace and he accepts it ignoring the protest of Paili.


Ambros gets this opportunity after the intervention of businessman Kuzhimattathu Clement (Ranji Panicker), who reveals to him that he wants to tell him a secret. But next morning Clement passes away. Ambros with the help of Clement's bosom friend Thomachan (Nedumudi Venu) tries to find out the secret Clement wanted to tell Ambrose. In his own parish, Ambrose is shocked to realise the present life of his old beloved Sarah (Iniya). He also had to mend her son Stanly (Swaraj Gramika) from his mischievous acts.


Ambrose is an introvert but he writes everything in a diary and his friend Silvester (Sudev Nair) knows about it. He has awe respect towards Paili but he never loathes him fully at heart. An old key he gets from Clement at the time of his death forces Ambrose to unravel its mystery. 'Thakkol' enters into a thriller mode in this phase but the excitement is sullied by the intrusion of some other events. A potential thread for thriller nosedives here in the gush of conventional dramatic sequences. The BGM by M Jayachandran is mediocre while Alby contributes some good visuals.


Murali Gopy is amazing as a stubborn senior priest with a seemingly lack of emotions. 'Thakkol' showcases his versatility in imbibing the complexities of a person, who is disturbed in the absence of his stooge. Indrajith is in his full flow with a sublime performance that keeps you engaging in most parts. But 'Thakkol' falters in cashing in on the powerful performances of actors due to the slide in the latter half.


It has a riveting premise of clergy life and the inner conflicts of a junior priest when his past refuses to leave him. Notable performances by actors leave an impression but the dramatic plot with shades of thriller loses the momentum towards the climax and it fizzles out sans achieving the mission. The tale promises a lot in the form of narration and tight drama, but the focus gets diverted all of a sudden.

K. R. Rejeesh

   

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