Thangamagan was previously titled as ‘VIP 2‘ as most of it’s technical crew were part of the blockbuster ‘Velai Illa Pattadhari‘ (VIP). Thangamagan translates to ‘Man of Gold’, and here, the golden man is Dhanush. The film, as we see in the trailer, tracks his life – His family, his love-life, his marriage and so on. The film is slated for a December 18 release.
The trailer introduces us to a clean-shaven Dhanush (Momentarily thinking how lucky Dhanush is – all this 32-year-old has to do is shave his face to look like a school kid.) and his family. We have director KS Ravikumar playing his father and actress Radhika, his mother. The trailer has some typical Tamil lover boy moments with a young Thamizh (Dhanush)and his ‘machan’ Sathish regularly stalking Amy Jackson and her friend/sister. When he says his name is Thamizh, Amy asks, “Is your father’s name English, then?” That, my friends, is what we call a ‘mokka joke’. Initially, Amy does not seem interested in his pursuits. But then, he mouth this pickup line: “I will check out all beautiful girls, but not all girls are as beautiful as you”. If that line doesn’t floor her, what will? We see glimpses of their courtship, and they do look good together. We guess from the trailer that later in his life, Thamizh gets married to Samantha, who, in a stark contrast to her previous roles, plays a very traditional-looking woman – complete with cotton sarees, jasmine flowers, nose pin, long braid and all that jazz. This reminds us of her role in the Telugu film ‘Manam‘, which is arguably her best performance to date. With Shweta Mohan’s melodious ‘Enna Solla‘ playing in the background, we see love blooming between the couple.
Enough with all the jokes and mush, the trailer moves to the action side of the film. We see an auto hitting KS Ravikumar, and cut to Jayaprakash threatening Tamizh. The trailer has glimpses of Thamizh beating a number of people to the pulp, plenty of SlowMo ‘mass’ scenes, and punch dialogues worth cheering for. Here is a sample: “Machaaan, In Tamil Nadu, English, French, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Spanish or German may lose. But Tamil (Tamizh) can never lose.”
Going by the trailer, Thangamagan seems to be on the lines of VIP – About an underdog fighting against the odds. For Dhanush, 2015 has been a mixed bag. Films he produced – Kaakka Muttai and Naanum Rowdy Dhaan turned out to be great successes. But his much-anticipated Maari fizzled out due to its weak story. We will have to wait to see if Thangamagan makes the New Year a happy one for the actor.