Thangam has a usual story that suits Sathyaraj brand of entertainment with the addition of sister - brother sentiment. Thangam is a simple story of a tug of war between two families. It is a story of friends turning foes.
Set in a small town near Coimbatore, `Thangam' portrays two families headed by Rajendranath and Mahadevan respectively. Thangam (Sathyaraj) is the son of Delhi Kumar and Aaruchami (Shanmugaraj) is the son of Mahadevan. Kaalai (Goundamani) is the uncle of Thangam.
Thangam and his sister Bhagyalakshmi (Jayashree) share a special attachment. The sister finds a suitable girl (Megha Nair) for the brother, who tries hard to arrange her marriage in a grand manner.
The two families turn foes because of the local MLA, who is corrupt. The MLA wants to get rid of Rajendranath, who commands respect in the constituency. He gets close to Aaruchami, who is jealous of the respect commanded by Thangam and his family.
The story has many twists and turns. Aaruchami, a compulsive womanizer, woo Thangam's sister and makes her pregnant. Thangam, who is mad of his sister, makes Aaruchami marry him. Aaruchami commits a murder but Thangam accepts the responsibility and go to the jail to save Aaruchami, to make the marriage of his sister possible.
Later, the relationship between the families is affected further with Mahadevan revolts against Rajendranath to make his son Aaruchami as MLA. In the process, he commits a murder and gets punished.
The battle gets worsened. Rajendranath and Bhagyalakshmi are killed. The rest of the story narrates how Thangam avenges for the murders.
Director Kicha has no pretensions. He makes it clear that he wants to give us an entertainer loaded with sentiment, action, and comedy. He does it with a well crafted script and the comedy of Goundamani - Sathyaraj combination. He narrates the story without making the audience feel boredom. He has paid much attention to the comedy and the smooth narration. The way Thangam takes on the rivals is worked out well. Especially the death of the MLA has been well conceived and executed. The sentimental scenes fail to appeal and the action sequences too are not that impressive.
Sathyaraj has no challenge or whatsoever in the film. The role is a routine one for him, which he handles with ease. He scores points in action and comedy but appears less convincing in sentimental scenes.
The highlight of the movie is Goundamani's comeback. The veteran steals the show with his sharp satire and voice modulations. His take on the current political scenario is hilarious.
Shanmugaraj registers an emphatic performance as Villain. His eyes and body language do the magic. Bala Singh is excellent as a cunning politician. Others including Mahadevan and Rajendranath have done their respective parts well.
As far as Megha Nair is concerned, she has little scope to showcase her acting talents. The tall girl looks fresh and tries to impress in emotional scenes without much impact.
Music by Srikanth Deva is just about okay and camera work by D. Shankar is competent.
Overall, the movie has nothing new or novel to offer. But it does entertain with a good script and comedy element.
