Thudarum - going rogue

Thudarum

Malayalam, 2025

Genre: Thriller

Watch in local theaters

Directed by Tharun Moorthy

Stars Mohanlal, Shobana, Prakash Varma, Binu Pappu, Farhaan Faasil, Aarsha Chandini Baiju

Mohan's Measure ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thudarum in Malayalam means continuation, and for Mohanlal it is.  Mohanlal the actor returns, putting the superstar Khureshi A'bram on the back burner, to present a film that is as impressive and as well-acted as Drishyam.

Starting off much in the way of this celebrated film, Thudarum starts off with a refreshing middle class family who are living very ordinary lives. Lalettan is Shanmugham, a once celebrated stuntman from Chennai who has now settled with his wife Lalitha- played to perfection by Shobhana -  and kids, in the small town of Ranni. He has left the cinema world behind to be a taxi driver, often to pilgrims going to Sabarimalai, but still maintains contact with his guru in Kollywood, who is played in cameo by Bharatiraja.  Everything seems fine until...

That "until" moment is not a sudden plot device but is carefully crafted into the film, beginning with comedy about a confiscated taxi and slowly but surely snaking its way to being a very dark thriller, one that involves both revenge and poetic justice.

The religious overtones are seen in processionals and statues, telling us not of the God of Heaven, but the gods of Kerala, Catholic and Hindu alike, who have fated this otherwise simple family to suffer such that they wreak their wrath upon an unjust world.  What is particularly important is that there are women involved, and it is Mother Nature's anger that is clearly present in Lalitha's eyes.  

A primal spirit is awakened through a devastating flood, in which a frightening truth surfaces, and a man transforms into a warrior, perhaps even "the devil himself."

For as the BGM keeps reminding us, even serpents aren't safe when an angry elephant goes rogue.