NEW DELHI : There is an interesting trend emerging across Indian cinema, and it has been a long time coming. Women are no longer confined to reacting to violence, they are the ones fighting back. From Blast in Tamil to Maa Inti Bangaaram in Telugu, filmmakers are placing women at the centre of action-driven narratives, and Thudakkam, another such attempt from Malayalam cinema, comfortably joins that list. But it carries a second, heavier responsibility too. This is the acting debut of Vismaya Mohanlal, daughter of Mohanlal, which makes the film as much a launch vehicle as it is a thriller.
Jude Anthany Joseph’s Thudakkam really has one job above everything else: introduce Vismaya to Malayalam cinema and make it count. On that front, it largely delivers. As a film in its own right, Thudakkam lands more than it misses, but whenever it falters, it is because the screenplay starts manufacturing moments instead of letting them emerge organically.
The story follows Meenu (Vismaya Mohanlal), who lives a happy, contented life with her father (Sai Kumar) in a remote Kerala hill village. When she suddenly goes missing, her father turns to the police, and what initially looks like a straightforward investigation thriller soon reveals itself to be something far bigger.
Ashish Joe Antony plays a contract killer and rapist whose path crosses Meenu’s, unaware that he has picked a fight with entirely the wrong person. The full explanation is held back for the second half, and the film is structured almost as two separate instalments stitched together: a first half that stays grounded and restrained, and a second that goes full launch vehicle.
That first half is easily the stronger of the two. It opens with a genuinely bleak introduction to the antagonist, followed by a silhouette animation credit sequence depicting the everyday predators women encounter, immediately setting a serious, unflinching tone. The police procedural strand cleverly avoids the tired cliche of officers dismissing a missing woman’s case outright. Instead, the response is mixed and believable, some make careless remarks assuming she has simply run off, while others genuinely want to help, and the writing gives Sai Kumar’s father figure enough emotional weight that his desperation feels earned rather than manufactured.
Meenu’s own journey home from a bank exam, including an act of kindness towards two children and an easy conversation with a group of young men on the road, does efficient, unforced work in establishing who she is before the plot machinery properly kicks in.
Technically, the film is confident throughout. Jomon T John and Akhil George’s cinematography, with additional work from Sudeep Elamon, makes striking use of thunder and lighting for its reveals and jump scares, and the tense set pieces in tight, confined interiors are captured with real fluidity. There are unmistakable echoes of No Country for Old Men in how the tension is built and sustained. Jakes Bejoy’s background score deserves particular praise, holding the mood and intensity together across the runtime, while Chaman Chakko’s editing keeps things brisk even when the plotting itself begins to wobble.
Once the interval arrives, the film shifts gear entirely, and its confrontational set pieces are staged with real intent and confidently carried off. Vismaya shows genuine presence and control in these portions and delivers a promising debut, even if her performance as a whole is still a little rough round the edges. Ashish Joe Antony is the film’s other genuine discovery, properly menacing as the antagonist, drawing fair comparisons to Sandy Master’s turn in Leo.
The writing sneaks in some lovely small touches too, a dog named Messi, a passing Liverpool reference, and a knowingly funny line from Bobby Kurian’s character wondering aloud why the villain insists on walking in slow motion, which landed as a genuine laugh in the auditorium. There is also a neat thread about self-defence that feeds directly into the design of a key confrontation, giving it purpose beyond spectacle.
Best of all is the recurring cop who insists everything is somehow the woman’s fault, a character who is not just there for setup but genuinely gets under your skin, and the film weaves in honest observations about how women who go through such incidents are pressured to stay quiet, and how gossip and public perception quietly reshape their stories.
Where Thudakkam stumbles is when it tries too hard to become the launchpad film it always intended to be. Until then, it largely works as a grounded thriller, trusting its mystery, characters and atmosphere to do the heavy lifting. But the second half gradually shifts its priorities from telling a compelling story to building larger-than-life moments for its debutante, and that is where the film loses some of its grip.
Several key developments, particularly the antagonist’s true motive, his connection to Meenu’s neighbour, and the media and social media subplot, feel manufactured rather than organically woven in. The idea of exploring how such an incident reshapes a woman’s life and public perception is compelling, but the screenplay rarely lets those moments breathe, using them instead to artificially raise the stakes.
Mohanlal’s appearances reflect the same balancing act. His first entrance fits naturally within the narrative and adds intrigue. By the climax, however, his presence feels designed more to deliver a theatrical high than to serve the story. It undoubtedly works for fans, but it also pulls focus away from Meenu at the exact point the film should have stayed fully invested in her journey. A more restrained, character-driven pay-off would have left a stronger emotional mark.
Even Mohanlal’s own lines in the film seem to speak past the character and straight to his daughter, a quiet nod from father to the actor that this is only the beginning, and what she does with it now is hers alone.
As a mission statement for Vismaya’s career, and as the latest entry in cinema’s welcome shift towards women who fight rather than simply survive, Thudakkam does its job. As a film in its own right, it is engaging, technically assured, and occasionally sharp in its social observations, but too often patched together in service of its bigger commercial ambitions. A well-made, watchable thriller that never quite decides whether it wants to be a story or a launch, and settles, not unreasonably, for being a bit of both.
