Thumbaa Movie Review
Production: Regal Reels, Roll Time Studios Cast: Darshan, Keerthi Pandian Direction: Harish Ram LH Screenplay: Harish Ram LH Story: Harish Ram LH Music: Anirudh Ravichander, Mervin Solomon, Santhosh Dayanidhi, Vivek Shiva Dialogues: Harish Ram LH
Thumbaa has a message that is relevant in these times of man-nature conflict – the need for man to co-exist with the wild. It conveys this through the adventure of three wide-eyed young people. Two of them, Hari (Darshan, whose performs is never convincing) and Umapathy (Dheena, an assured comic performance) are painters who have come to Top Slip for a painting job. The third one is Varsha (a chirpy Keerthi Pandian), who comes to the place hoping to take photographs of a tiger. Meanwhile, Thumbaa, a tiger, has crossed over to this side of the mountain range from Kerala with its cub, and a gang of poachers, led by the forest officer, are plotting to capture it.
The main USP of Thumbaa is that the animals are all computer-generated and in this aspect, the film succeeds to an extent. Thumbaa, the tiger’s features are well realised, though the animators fail at lending its image the weight. So, there are times when it looks like a soft toy rather than a real animal. A monkey, named Tiger, is included mainly to attract kids, and this one faces the same problem in animation.
The cinematography lets you visualize the forest through light and dark. The music, though not remarkable, has rendered its support to the film nicely. The VFX demands appreciation for the fact that it didn’t seem artificial or disturbing at any point but was almost lifelike (for the standards Tamil cinemas has seen yet).
Jayam Ravi’s cameo appearance was sure a right surprise. The message the film conveys and the confidence in bringing out the right aspects for it are some great aspects of the film. It seemed more like a thought-out film that didn’t waste time on unwanted commercial elements.
If you are expecting a perfect live-action movie of International standards, Thumbaa might not cope up with it, but it is a very genuine attempt in delivering a make-believe, live-action drama that delivers a good message and entertains the family audiences through the runtime.
