Thanthonni
By Cine Critic | 24th March, 2010| 17:30:58

Thantonni is a hotchpotch of several movies; there isn't anything in it that we haven't seen at least a dozen times before.It fails to engage the viewer, in the absence of a credible storyline and you can sit through most of the scenes only if you are a hardcore Prithviraj fan. For the rest of you, well, it could turn out to be quite a dull affair.

Kochu Kunju (Prithviraj) is the youngest member of the wealthy Vadakkan Veettil tharavadu and he is an impudent brat, who had left home during his early teens and is back after almost a decade. The entire first half is devoted to establish the hero, his virtues, his comic credentials, romance and so on.The whole household is waiting for his consent to share the properties, but then, Kochu Kunju has some points to prove as well. His uncles had hatched a plan to kill his father and Kochu Kunju had decided that he would become rich to teach them all a lesson. That he became and as it turns out to be, without much effort as well.

If you are able to sit through Thanthonni, wishing all the while that it had something better to say, it's only because of its lead actor. Prithvi delivers a whopper performance in a script that offers him little scope. Sheela's role in the film is as skimpy as her skirts and to her credit she does her role to perfection.It is during the narration during a flashback sequence in the second half that we find some interesting moments in the whole film.

Prithviraj’s attempts to do comic scenes aided by Suraj Venjarammood and Jagathy Sreekumar don't look too convincing.The storyline looks absolutely concocted and silly, with every effort intended at deifying the hero.The technical aspects are a big let down.
Director George Varghese has not been able to do some smart repairs on Shahid's shaky script.Sajeth Menon's camera rarely succeeds in presenting even half decent visuals and the music by Tej Mervin lacks any merit.And the explosive climax that is expected to come up, never really arrives.

It has been made as per certain age old formulas which could have been fine some two decades back. If you are the kind who regards a mixture of buffoonery, fights and some heroism as the perfect recipe for entertainment, this one could turn out to be a not-so-bad effort. For the rest of the world, watch it at your own risk.

Verdict: Hotchpotch