Thanneer Mathan Dinangal is our own secret nostalgia that went public

The first image that comes to my mind when I hear the word ‘thanneer mathan ‘ (water melon) is that of freshness. Thanneer Mathan Dinangal is that kind of a film which literally translates that image into an engaging film. But freshness is not always associated with the word success especially in case of cinema where people keep running behind already established routes. It is in this context that this wonder of a film gets more relevant.

If we start telling the story of Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, it gets difficult beyond a point because the entire film depends on a situation only and the journey is from moment to moment. The interesting thing is that when each of these moments rolls out on screen we are only interested in that moment only and we don’t calculate or conclude about the upcoming scenes like we do in other films. This is because these characters and moments are so natural and in a free flow that we keep forgetting that its a movie. We are inside the situations as much as the characters itself. We know them like those friends we had once, and it goes to a point where we are entertained even by those silly conversations, just like we had once.

The lead characters played by Mathew and Anaswara Rajan gives us a very matured performance even though they are still to pass their teenage. The uncanny casting of Vineeth Sreenivasan gave the film an unpredictability and tension. The director of the film Girish A D seems to have a natural flair for extracting convincing performances from his team of actors. If we look at his early attempts at short film making it also had that factor intact. Everyone in front of the camera seems to have a self of their own and are also very comfortable with it, especially those boys who played Matthew’s classmates. It was like they were playing themselves on screen. Full credits should go to the director as it is no easy feat to blend characters with actors so smoothly.

Secret Nostalgia

Another important aspect is the freshness in music by Justin Varghese. The lyrics and singing also goes with the same theme. It is after a long time that we get to see a film which has its songs in the right places and used only to move the plot in the best way possible. The songs are used only to move the plot so that audience is not bored even during the songs.

A film like Thanneer Mathan Dinangal usually gets into trouble when it reaches it’s climax. Here the filmmaker shines as he goes with a very matured ending that suits the film and not with a damp fantasy style one that we have seen umpteen number of times. He kept that freshness factor intact even during the ending portions of the film.

Thanner Mathan Dinangal is like our own secret nostalgia that went public. We all love to travel to that space again and again. Thats why the film also gets watched again and again.