Thandel movie review: Naga Chaitanya, Sai Pallavi shoulder a layered romance but get bogged down by superficial drama

Thandel revolves around a group of Srikakulam fisherfolk who spend nine months in Gujarat waters and return home to their loved ones for a month every three months. This is their livelihood and runs the homes of almost every family in this fishing hamlet. Raju’s father, a much-loved leader of the hamlet, passed away at sea, and yet, his mother believes this is a way of life, and doesn’t deter her son from sailing into the ocean. Similarly, Sathya too understands that his inner heart always beats for the sea, and accommodates long durations staying away from him. She even rejoices in his ascension to ‘Thandel’ aka leader of the hamlet, and is genuinely proud of him. But when a butterfly flutters its wings in a nearby house, it leads to a cyclonic after-effect in the story of Sathya and Raju. 

Naga Chaitanya plays Raju and Sai Pallavi essays the role of Sathya in Thandel

While Chandoo gets the initial portions of this fallout really well, the moment this story gets sidestepped to include the happenings inside the Pakistan jail, things start getting queasy. Of course, the true story of 22 fisherfolk caught by Pakistan for trespassing into their territory, and languishing in their prison for months together makes for a compelling story. But Chandoo and Co are burdened by the initial decision to mount it as an against-all-the-odds love story, and they get the love story so right that the odds don’t really work in favour of the narrative. 

It is not just the Pakistan prison narrative that proves to be a deterrent to the film but also the character of Karunakaran, who plays a thankless role in his Telugu debut. Of course, he is a lot of fun, but his equation with Sathya doesn’t really get fleshed out enough for it to register even a semblance of an impact. The same with Divya Pillai’s character, who plays the template ‘hero’s friend’ albeit, this time as the ‘heroine’s friend.’ There is a gender reversal but the beats are the same. Despite her story being the first domino that falls, there is very little focus on her, and even at a very important moment in the last act, her feelings are completely discarded to focus on the lead pairing. Such issues become really glaring mainly because there is so much happening around the central love story that it gets very distracting. Even back in the Pakistan jail, there is a largely one-note representation of what was happening, and it becomes too jingoistic, and less patriotic. 

In many ways, the film may remind us of Mani Ratnam’s Roja, which was also about a woman running from pillar to post to secure the release of her husband kidnapped in Kashmir. It was also based on a true story, and a play on the story of Sathyavan-Savithri. The touches of both the film and the story are seen in Thandel, however, it fails to ask the bigger questions that come from such a daunting task. Why should a single woman go through all this when it is something that the bureaucracy should have taken on suo moto. Why didn’t the State and Union governments do the necessary thing without making a woman go through various ways to bring it to their notice?

But those are questions that can wait, because Thandel doesn’t really explore the psyche of the fisherfolk caught in the neighbouring country’s prison. We don’t really know what goes through their minds despite letters being written and tears being shed. There is absolutely no sense of human drama in these portions, and instead, we are left to see Raju play the thandel for them in a fight against a ruthless group of Pakistani prisoners whose only aim is to humiliate India and Indians.

Naga Chaitanya plays a daring fisherman in Thandel

While using real-life incidents to explain the red-tape involved in the release of the fisherfolk is interesting, the timeline is never clear, and we are told it’s been months since it happened, but we never actually feel it. Even when there is an almost anti-climactic showdown in the Pakistan prison, which is once again, inspired from what actually happened, the focus shifts towards the romance and not the plight of the prisoners. This takes away from the agonising wait of the 22 innocent men, and we feel it doesn’t do justice to their stories.

What we actually feel is the love that binds Sathya and Raju together despite their own decisions holding them apart. This dichotomy is wonderfully accentuated by the music of Devi Sri Prasad, which is undoubtedly the soul of the film. He becomes a different beast altogether in such romantic films, and throughout Thandel, we understand why he is one of the best at what he does. Of course, he uses the Bujji Thalli song throughout the film in various forms, but every single time, the strings used in the background score always manages to tug at our own heartstrings. Another wonderful aspect of Thandel is the rich visual quality, courtesy Shamdat’s work, that ensures that the vast expanses of the sea feel as familiar as the stormy waters of Gujarat and the dusty cells of Pakistan. 

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Love comes in different forms. Despite generations of various arts trying to define what love is all about, we have always found ways to find a new and personal dimension of love. In Thandel, as the credits roll, we understand that the weight of love and the burden of life intertwine with each other in the hope that the former might just win any battle with the latter. But the fact that there was space for just one love story to bloom rather than 22 life stories to come to life is why Thandel is a lovely romance that doesn’t go all the way because it falls short of becoming an effective drama.

Thandel Movie Cast: Naga Chaitanya, Sai Pallavi, Karunakaran, Divya Pillai

Thandel Movie Director: Chandoo Mondeti

Thandel Movie Rating: 2.5 stars