Thambi

Acting on the part of everyone except for Sathyaraj are mediocre... The music is dull and the background score leaves a lot to be desired. The direction and editing is a bit messy as well and there are gaps and goof-ups that a good writer or director would have corrected... But, the movie works and keeps you engaged purely for its story line .. and when a movie comes under the banner of being a thriller and is able to throw a twist that most people would not have expected, then it surely does succeed to some extent :) Decent watch.

This is one film which leaves you guessing till the end and every guess you make is almost always wrong. That's what makes a good thriller film.

Though the story doesn't move too much up until then interval block, the first half is very much enjoyable with Karthi's humorous mannerisms. The internal block presents a couple of twists which sets the tone for the second half, which is a mix of emotions and twists and is very much engaging. The performances of Karthi, Jyothika and Sathyaraj form the main pillars of the movie along with the brother-sister emotions and the well-executed screenplay. Definitely a worth watch in theatre.

" Thambi" Tamil movie.

Mystery thriller with an extra dose of sentiments.

MLA living with his wife and daughter, searching his son, who had disappeared, 15 years ago. A con man, from Goa, comes into the scene as his son, bringing happiness and brightness in that family.

Story unfolds in first half, mostly as drama genre movie, to take us to an unexpected interval with a chilling suspense. Second half is in tune with thriller, with overtones of sentiments.

Story and screenplay carefully crafted well and director Jeethu Joseph has presented well, yet another thriller. Compared to his previous outings like 'Memories', 'Drishyam' ...this thriller is not that intense.

And these kinda story, we had seen in movies like 'Charithram' 1989 Malayalam, 'Imposter' 2012 English.... So this movie storyline maybe inspired or plagerized from the references.

Camera work is superb to keep the suspense and tension intact.

7 on 10 for this dragging thriller lasting 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Karthi as the con man and Sathyaraj as the MLA, shone well in their respective performances.

Well knitted presentation with unexpected twists and turns to keep the audience, guessing who is hero and villains are.

Safe watch

Jeethu Joseph tries hard to retain the vibe of Drishyam/Papanasam in his latest outing, starring Karthi, Jyothika, Sathyaraj, and Nikhila Vimal. The effort is commendable, and Thambi indeed is a 'family thriller', but the thriller dots barely connect and the emotional dots do not connect at all. Yet, what keeps the film afloat are the casting choices and the manner in which Jeethu tries to pull off a rather far-fetched make-believe.

It, however, fails in drawing great connects between the various members in the family, especially between brother and sister. Also, the placement of red-herrings is sometimes too evident in the screenplay. The first half is quite underwhelming with the prodigal son (or just a con-man?) returning to his home after 15 years and adjusting to the newfound surroundings. There are a number of song sequences, a by-the-numbers romantic angle that doesn't add meat to the central storyline, and a subplot that barely reveals character intentions.

Things do get better in the second half, but at one point, you're subjected to fight sequence after fight sequence without any solid improvement in the plot. The murders in Thambi aren't covered up as phenomenally as the one in Drishyam was. And when the big twist comes around, one does tend to feel that the sole purpose of many earlier scenes was only to distract and deceive. The ensemble does a neat-to-serviceable job with their characters, with Sathyaraj the only one standing out. I also enjoyed Sowcar Janaki's presence in the movie.

Thambi is no Papanasam or Parasite, I can tell you that. It's not a difficult film to sit through, but it could have been a lot (I mean A LOT!) better.