Thuramukham

I really wanted to love Thuramukham (The Harbor) for it has a lot of things I generally love in cinema. A hard-hitting intro set in period and monochrome, the old ways of doing things (pre-Independence and immediate post-independence India), poverty, slow-burning plot, and lifelike performances. Yet with all that heavy load, it falters somewhere around the midway as if the makers had lost strength after all that heavylifting. Thuramukham is a film in the "what could have been" category had it evolved out of its documentary-like filmmaking and given a redeeming factor to its characters. As it stands now, the climax makes it feel like all that heavy load was for nothing. I still feel there's a good film hidden inside Thuramukham, and hence is a required viewing.

Thuramukham is a movie that portrays the struggles of the working class in a realistic manner.

However, where the movie falls short is in its storytelling. The narrative lacks interesting twists and turns and feels more like a documentary than a feature film. The pacing is slow and at times, the movie feels like it's dragging on.

Overall, while Thuramukham has its merits in terms of its depiction of the harsh realities of life and its commendable performances, it fails to engage the audience throughout its runtime. The movie could have benefited from a tighter script and better pacing.

Better than kuttavum sikshayum.

Elongated script for a movie that had no true length. Not sure, what the director was even trying to depict, is it the focus on the characters or the poor script. Sheer waste of good talents. Nivin and Dharshana were wasted with hardly a zilch to add much into the story.

The music was one of the worst torment of the movie.. there was absolutely no sync to whatsoever of the scene or the music bring played.. it was as though, the music director was on a rolled out budget, that he blew the music only on a trumpet that was pathetically composed.

There were so many loose ends, that at some point it leaves you wondering, what is even happening.

Please don't watch. Not worth a single dime.

I have to say that it is the worst film I've seen in a long time. There was nothing redeeming about this one. No matter what aspect you look at, the film fails to deliver. The story is dull and uninspired. The film tries to tackle several themes, but it fails to do so with any depth or nuance, making the experience a tedious one.

I would not recommend this film to anyone, as it falls short in every aspect. I am surprised that a filmmaker like Rajeev Ravi, who has been known for his exceptional work in the past, could produce such a mediocre film. This film was a complete waste of time and I would advise others to steer clear of it and choose something more deserving of their time and attention.

After watching Rajeev Ravi's long-delayed Thuramukham, I begin to wonder whether Gopan Chidambaran's script was intentionally stripped off its commercial elements and high moments, or if it was entirely the director's vision (or choice) to deliver a straightforward, realistic account of the harbor workers protest in the '50s. Whatever the case may be, Thuramukham ends up feeling half-baked. By placing its focus on Nivin Pauly's anti-hero Moidu, the screenplay dangles on slippery ground. The protagonist here is clearly Moidu's brother Hamza (Arjun Ashokan, who puts up a good show) but the writing lends him the short end of the stick. As for the unhinged, two-minded Moidu, the arc is all over the place. The cold sibling rivalry in the film is thematically similar to Chidambaran's earlier screenplay for Amal Neerad's Iyobinte Pusthakam, but that film had greater commercial inclinations, which also made it supremely enjoyable.

Thuramukham's best stretch is indeed the black & white opening act featuring Joju George, Sudev Nair, and Poornima Indrajith. When the story fast-forwards to the adulthood of Moidu and Hamza, in addition to building tedious reasons for the workers protest to gain steam, the film restrains from offering anything exciting. The performances from the ensemble remain solid throughout, but the flaccid plot developments and the lack of coherence in the treatment of Pauly's character bring the film down several notches. Additionally, the songs and the score felt so one-note (this is coming from someone who relished K's work in Kammatipaadam) and the random fade-outs in several important scenes almost took me out of the story.