Jagame Thandhiram: Ambitious but lacks a punch

Jagame Thandhiram
Tamil (Netflix)
Director: Karthik Subbaraj
Cast: Dhanush, Aishwarya Lekshmi, James Cosmo and Joju George

Call him a hero and Suruli (Dhanush) squirms. He is more happy to be a villain for all seasons. And he keeps his word throughout the nearly three-hour-long movie. From his rustic territory in Madurai to the ritzy streets of London, Suruli the gangsta buzzes around in a lungi, bumping off ‘brown’ and ‘white’ opponents.

Our gunman is a gourmet too, whipping up parotas with the same ease as spraying bullets. In his spare time, he falls for Attila (Aishwarya Lekshmi), who croons her way into his heart.

Somewhere along the line, Suruli realises that scoring a kiss is not as easy as drawing blood. And it takes more time for director Karthik Subbaraj to realise that the exploits of a local rowdy don’t go too well with a story about Sri Lankan Tamil immigrants in distress.

‘Jagame Thandhiram’ gets far too ambitious when it tries to pack a global refugee tale in a Dhanush entertainment package. Of course, the actor delivers with his raw charm and wit, but he needs more ammo than crude bombs to become an international messiah. Half-baked history lessons don’t help either.

Dhanush is pitted against British mobster Peter (James Cosmo), who flaunts ‘White Power’ on his number plate. He also locks horns with Sivadoss (Joju George), a Sri Lankan Tamil-turned-Robin Hood, who is channelling his mafia funds into fighting racism.

The hero, or rather villain, has all the swag to endear him to fans. Suruli is so street-smart that it takes him just a few days to rise through the ranks of London’s underworld. And that too, with a tongue that knows only Tamil.

Okay, we are all for cinematic liberty. And we totally believe that our ‘Blackie Jackie’ can annihilate an army of white supremacists just like that. But no, we can’t trivialise a civil war.