The opening stretch of Raghu Thathatakes us back to the ‘60s. Even as the opening credits roll, we are shown newspaper clippings of important developments in that period. Anti-Hindi slogans and protests are rampant in Tamil Nadu, a state that is furiously vocal against the imposition of Hindi. Indira Gandhi has taken over as the first woman Prime Minister of the country, something that should ideally given women across the country a lot more confidence and freedom.
But that’s not the case for Kayalvizhi, growing up in Valluvanpettai, a small village in Tamil Nadu. When we first see Kayalvizhi (Keerthy Suresh), she’s wearing a shirt. She tells her mother who asks her to dress properly: “Ponna adakamalan iruka mudiyathu’” (I’m not interested in being a proper lady). There’s defiance in her voice, and what stands out — right in that very first dialogue itself — is how Kayal does not even wait for her mother to complete her sentence and retorts immediately with a resounding ‘no’.
It’s almost like she has heard that line many times in her life.
She will hear it again, much later in the film, when a marriage proposal comes knocking at her doors, much against her wishes. She tells the boy’s father, “Mandaya odachuduven” (I’ll crack your head open). Kayalvizhi is used to being told to tone it down, and “behave like a girl” and she will have none of it.
This rebellious streak spills over to her life in public too. She is at the forefront of anti-Hindi protests at her village, which leads to the closure of a Hindi prachar sabha in town, thus upsetting a few people.
Kayalvizhi has got this streak from her grandfather, played by MS Bhaskar, who continues his journey in Tamil cinema in top form. Here in Raghu Thatha, titled so because of the comical one-liner from the 1981 Tamil film Indru Poi Naalai Vaa, the ‘thatha’ character is interestingly of prime importance. He has a close bond with his granddaughter Kayal, much stronger than her ties with her own parents, and needs her to do something much against her wishes. Will she?
Raghu Thatha
The biggest plus about Raghu Thatha is its irreverence and humour. Even a slightly serious sequence is infused with a liberal dose of humour, and that does not come from the leads alone. There is Kayal’s brother’s wife who gets very little screen time, but ends up having the entire hall applauding in the end with her wit. There are two small-town criminals who steal the scene in one particular phase. And of course, there’s MS Bhaskar delivering poker-faced funny lines now and then that crack you up.
But the filmcould have done away with a lot of the initial portions of conversation between Kayal and Selvam (Ravindra Vijay). Ravindra Vijay is convincing with his performance, but his change of attitude during the course of the film is not explained as clearly it ought to be.
Raghu Thatha is directed by Suman Kumar, who has earlier written hit series like The Family Man and Farzi.The film’s laidback approach in the first half is made up by a roller-coaster 20 minutes in the end, which brings a smile to your face. There’s also music composer Sean Roldan having a lot of fun with the tunes; the music provides a delightful flavour to the narrative (‘Poruthhiru Selva’, sung by SP Charan, deserves a special shout out. Don’t we all miss SPB?)
And in the middle of all this is Keerthy Suresh, who dishes yet another compelling performance. There’s something natural about Keerthy here, which makes even message-laden sequences seem less heavy. Most of the film is her just... being. If that’s not the sign of a solid performance, what is?
Raghu Thatha is currently running in theatres
