Storyline: The film revolves around a struggling television journalist Alok Goyal (Ayushmann Khurrana) staying in Delhi with his parents (Paresh Rawal and Geeta Agarwal Sharma). He once goes on a jungle adventure with his friends outside the city. He becomes a victim of a bear attack and is forced to hide in a cave-like place for safety. Just then, a beautiful girl (Rashmika Mandanna) rescues him.

Alok gets to know that her name is Tadaka and she is a part of a tribe of Betaals led by the crazy Yakshasan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). People from the tribe capture Alok just when he and Tadaka are getting attracted to each other. Tadaka defies the tribe’s rules and frees Alok. But in order to save herself from her tribe for being a traitor, she too moves to Delhi with him. This encounter changes Alok’s life forever.

Review: Thamma has an interesting storyline that gains your interest right at the onset. There is a right amount of humour and thrill after Alok and Tadaka enter each other’s lives and face numerous funny and thrilling situations. Once the two reach Delhi, the intrigue level increases as Tadaka constantly tries hiding her real self. The interval point comes across as a surprise.

The second half takes off well from that point and makes you interested in knowing where will all this lead. However, the film goes downhill from here on. The narrative becomes too complicated and self-indulgent. It seems that the makers were trying too hard in providing thrill through this genre and thereby ended up going overboard. A few of the rules of the Betaal community also appear weird and too convenient. The finale too is quite underwhelming.

The film also leaves a few questions unanswered. For example, we are shown an encounter with King Alexander at the start but the character never returns. But the most bewildering part is the sudden disappearance of Alok’s mother without any reason whatsoever!

Thamma scores well in the technical department through. Saurabh Goswami’s camerawork is impressive. The film is also rich in visuals, mostly because of the VFX. The background score (Sachin Jigar) adds to the thrill.

The performances are a mixed bag. Ayushmann Khurrana is the best of all. He goes through various emotions and situations with relative ease. Rashmika Mandanna is better than a couple of her previous outings as far as her expressions and body language are concerned. But her heavy south accent hampers her act yet again. Paresh Rawal once again shows how dependable he is when it comes to displaying humour with subtlety. Geeta Agarwal Sharma is memorable despite limited screen time.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui appears entertaining initially but starts becoming repetitive. It seems he was trying a bit too hard in being funny later on. He also brings back memories of his act from Kick (2014). Faisal Malik of Panchayat fame shines as the cop. Varun Dhawan is decent in a cameo from Bhediya. Abhishek Banerjee fares better in his cameo.

Overall: Thamma has an interesting and entertaining build up but it suffers from a messed up second half. The film will score well at the box office in the six-day extended Diwali period but will slow down from Monday onwards.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Director: Aditya Sarpotdar

Producers: Maddock Films

Writers: Niren Bhatt, Arun Fulara and Suresh Mathew

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Paresh Rawal

Also read: The Ba***ds of Bollywood Review: Unabashedly whacky take on Bollywood with an overdose of expletives

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