Casting : Vikram, Parvathy, Malavika Mohanan, Daniel Caltagirone, Pasupathy, Harikrishnan Annadurai, Muthukumar, Arjun Anbudasan, Preethi Karan,
Directed By : Pa.Ranjith
Music By : GV Prakash Kumar
Produced By : Studio Green and Neelam Productions – KE Gnanavel Raja
In the 19th century, the story takes place in North Arcot district, the largest district of Tamil Nadu. All the Adikudis from the area have lost their lands to Mirasudar and are working as farm slaves on the same lands, while the hero Vikram is happily farming with his family on his own land. Unable to tolerate this, Mirasuthara conspires to take away Vikram’s land and make him and his family farm slaves.
In this situation, a Britisher who believes that there is gold in the area decides to try to find it and involve the Adivasi people in the process. Despite the promise of a share in the gold found and daily wages, food and accommodation, people are reluctant to go on the journey to search for gold because it is dangerous. But instead of dying day by day as serfs in the farms without self-respect, Vikram, who sees the journey to search for gold as an opportunity to change our lives and recover the lost lands, dares to die and travels in search of gold with some of his colleagues led by the British. Did his journey succeed and what he thought happened? Isn’t it? ‘Thangalan’ is an amazing work created by Ba.Iranji with real history, his fiction and politics.
Although he touches different fields in each of his films, director Ba.Iranjith, who records the life of the primitive people and his politics very strongly, this time has taken the fans to his new fantasy world and given a new cinematic experience.
Vikram, who is acting in Ghatabad named Tangalan, has forgotten that he is an actor and has transformed into a primitive man. From the way he works the land as a primitive farmer named Tangalan, to the old look of his grandfather who collects gold, his body language, speech delivery, and the change in his physique are stunning in all his looks. Actor Vikram, who has worked so hard for a character and has created a unique personality for that character and has added it to the list of world-class screen characters, is likely to get not only a national award, but also an Oscar if sent to the competition.
Malavika Mohanan, who plays Arathi in the pre-19th-century story and a tribal chieftain who protects gold in the 19th-century story, is a threat alongside Vikram. Just as Vikram’s Thangalan character design is eye-catching, his character Aarti and his aggressive performance are menacing.
Parvathy, who plays Vikram’s wife Gangamma, has a compelling role. In speaking and acting as Gangamma, she wins praise for her natural performance of getting angry with her husband and then ecstatic over his gift.
Although Pashupati does not have a very prominent role, he represents the primitive people who tried to travel the path of Ramanuja to end their slavery. Even though his acting and dialogue delivery is artificial at some points, it also carries a lot for the film as it makes us laugh here and there.
All the actors in the film, including English actor Daniel, who plays a gold-seeking Britisher, Adikudi Makkal, who travels with Vikram, and Muthukumar, who plays Mirasudhaar, fit the characters perfectly.
GV Prakash Kumar’s ominous background score adds extra oomph to the aggression and action in the scenes. Although the loud background music in the scenes in the second half seems to be a bit of a drawback, the song “Lane…Thangalane…” forgets that drawback and keeps celebrating the music.
Cinematographer A. Kishore Kumar’s hard work is evident in all scenes. The tremendous work of the cinematography team and the fight training team in every fight has raised the quality of the scenes and made it look great on the screen.
Cinematographer Selva RK, art director SS Murthy, martial artist Stunner Sam, make-up artist Baldev Varma, costume designer Egan Ekambaram and other technical artists have created the world of Tangalan in an astonishing manner.
Cinematographer Selva RK, art director SS Murthy, martial artist Stunner Sam, make-up artist Baldev Varma, costume designer Egan Ekambaram and other technical artists have created the world of Tangalan in an astonishing manner.
Director B.Iranjith, Writers Ajayya Periyavan and Tamil Prabha in a fictional story with a historical backdrop, Who are the Adivasis who can be said to be downtrodden today? They have tried to speak out the truth and their background. The success of their efforts can be seen in the wise handling of the Buddha statue. But while it may be a pushover for some, director Pa. Iranjith has re-established his success as a creator in his attempt to rewrite his identity and history.
Director Pa.Iranjith, who created the character of Tangalan and gave it a grand fantasy film through his imaginative screenplay and visuals, the way he portrayed the female protagonist Aarthi as a witch and the conflict scenes between his group and Tangalan’s ancestral group, challenged Hollywood films. He directed the film in a way.
It is true that the character of the witch came before the 18th century, but why did the character of the witch travel even after that? The question may arise for many people. The character Aarti, Tangalan’s grandfather is only a witch visually, as far as the audience is concerned she is the tribal chieftain protecting the gold. That’s why the director Ba.Iranjith, who keeps the character traveling throughout the film, has written the screenplay as an attempt to reveal the connection between the tribal people who protect the gold, and the adivasis who are believed to be the only ones who can take the gold, and the character of Aarthi as her soul continues to travel with Tangalan. But some people, who do not understand this properly, take it as a witch, demon and devil show without telling the history of the 19th century.
Although he has tried to tell the hidden story in every scene and dialogue, director Pa. Iranjith has handled the screenplay with great care to make it a film for the star hero Vikram and a work of quality. At the same time, although the conflicts between the two groups in the film take place in different time periods, it seems to be the same, and even though the characters’ dialogues are not understood at some places, the subsequent scenes make us forget that flaw.
Director Ba.Iranjith, who has taken the fans to a new world with new efforts and hard work, has not only described the life of the primitives as dirty, but also as heroic and equal to the highest object of the world, and has been a great success in giving it a grand and quality work through his making.