‘Jagame Thandhiram’ movie review: Guns, warfare, a pressing issue and a ricochet bullet

Karthik Subbaraj’s latest wants to have a bit of everything: a drama with an ultra-cool gangster (Dhanush) at the centre, a serious political film dealing with a global issue, and a stylishly-shot bubblegum film with a carefree attitude, that doesn’t quite achieve the desired results

A bittersweet moment between two characters over the idea of home paints a bigger picture of the kind of substance Karthik Subbaraj has in his hands. One of them is Murugesan (played by Subbaraj’s father), a Tamil from Ceylon but a refugee in Tamil Nadu, before moving to London where he works at a restaurant as a dish washer. Murugesan narrates his ordeal of being a “stateless” person, or rather, a man without an identity. The person receiving this information is Suruli (Dhanush in a “been there, done” that performance), a well-respected gangster from Madurai who has made a gulf called Little Madurai (like how Hosur is referred to as Little England) out of an entire street in London. They are both Tamil at heart but are immigrants living in a foreign soil when looked at from a holistic perspective. “How can you be a refugee in Tamil Nadu when you’re a Tamil?,” asks Suruli. Murugesan politely laughs at Suruli’s innocence or rather at his understanding of the politics of race. .