Thudarum

<p>In the serene hill town of , , Shanmugham—affectionately called Benz—leads a quiet life as a taxi driver. Once a renowned in Malayalam and Tamil cinema, he left the film world after a tragic on-set accident claimed the life of his dearest friend, Anbu. Now, Benz finds contentment in his modest routine, surrounded by his wife Lalitha, their two children, and his prized possession—a black . Life flows peacefully until one day, Benz’s college-going son, Pavi, brings home a group of friends. Unaware, the boys take the Ambassador for a joyride and crash it. A furious Benz slaps Pavi, though regrets it later when an angry and hurt Pavi stops answering his parents’ calls. Benz entrusts the car to his friend Kuttichan, a local mechanic, for repairs and soon after, travels to to attend the funeral of his former stuntmaster. Upon returning, Benz is shocked to discover that his beloved car has been seized by the police. Unknown to him, Maniyan, Kuttichan’s assistant, had used the car to smuggle . Despite the flimsy evidence, Benny, an arrogant and corrupt officer, refuses to release it. Benz pleads outside the station for several hours until George Mathan, a seemingly composed senior officer nearing retirement, intervenes and agrees to release the car—but with a condition. George asks Benz to drive him and Benny to the wedding celebration of Sudheesh’s sister. Though reluctant, Benz agrees and the trio go there the next day and stay the night. But later that night, George insists on driving to a remote farmhouse in to continue the celebrations. Hesitant but cornered, Benz agrees, with Sudheesh also joining them. Reaching deep inside the forest, Benz learns a horrifying truth from George. Earlier that evening, Sudheesh’s sister was allegedly harassed by her ex-boyfriend, who accidentally died in a scuffle with her family. George and Benny are trying help protect the family’s reputation and they’ve hidden the dead body in Benz’s car with the intend of disposing it in the forest. Shaken and powerless, Benz watches as they dump the corpse. Haunted, a disturbed Benz returns home the next morning. Lalitha notices blood on his shirt and his distant behaviour. Lalitha reveals that Pavi is still not picking up their calls and Benz goes to his hostel. However, when Pavi’s friends reveal that he left for home a few days ago, Benz gets concerned and goes to the police station. George and Benny dismisses it casually, stating Benz slapping his son as the reason he is not picking up calls and that he must have gone on a trip with his friends. Later while cleaning the car, Benz finds the dead man’s wallet that had fallen inside his car. To his horror Benz realises that it was Pavi’s and that the body he unknowingly helped bury was his own son’s. Devastated, Benz launches his own investigation. He abducts Sudheesh and forces a confession. Sudheesh reveals that Benz was misled — there was no harassment towards his sister and no ex-boyfriends. He informs Benz that George orchestrated the whole thing and he himself realized that there was a body only upon George’s revelation. Meanwhile, a landslide in Purakkayam, Panchalimedu uncovers the body and forensics confirm it is Pavi. To cover their tracks, George and Benny fabricate a new lie: that Benz murdered Pavi over family tensions. It is revealed that Anbu and Lalitha were married and Pavi is their child, whom Benz adopted when he married Lalitha after Anbu’s death. The police arrests Lalitha along with her daughter and tortures them to support the false narrative. Benz is caught and held in the station’s basement, where George plans to eliminate him with the help of some corrupt officers. But Benz, fueled by anger, erupts and vanquishes them. In a fit of rage, he also kills Benny and escapes. He calls George, threatening to go after his daughter, Mary. George rushes home, only to find Benz waiting with Benny’s corpse. In a final confrontation, Benz learns the whole truth: Mary and Pavi were in love. But George, enraged by the relationship, Pavi after arresting him on a fake charge. Benny helped him cover it up by hiding the body in Benz’s car while Benz was unknowingly waiting outside to plead for his car. Enraged beyond measure, Benz brutally beats George and kills him, as Mary watches on. At Pavi’s funeral, Mary grieves alongside Benz’s family, choosing to stand with the man she once loved. Two title cards – “In India, an estimated 30,000 cases of honor killings occur every year”, “Yet, shockingly, only 25-35 cases are officially registered. The rest vanish into silence, buried under the weight of caste bias and social pressure.” are displayed. Days later, as he is being taken into the courtroom, one of the swarming press reporters asks Benz, “Did you kill your son?” to which he replies, “I didn’t kill my son. The ones who killed my son, I…” and then pauses for a moment. The police remove the reporters and continue escorting Benz into the courtroom. The ending suggests that Mary is now embraced as part of Benz’s family, and the story concludes with a soft resonance of its title: Thudarum — a continuation. The film was officially announced by in mid-March 2024, with set to direct. Moorthy co-wrote the screenplay with , while M. Renjith of Rejaputhra Visual Media took on production responsibilities. Filming was planned to begin in April. In an interview, Moorthy revealed that following the success of his previous film, (2022), Renjith expressed interest in collaborating on a new project. Moorthy and Sunil spent eight months developing the screenplay, which was eventually . The project had the , marking Mohanlal’s 360th film. Although the team had already finalized a title by the time the screenplay was completed, they opted to use a temporary title during production. originated from a story conceptualized by Sunil, a who frequently travels in search of subjects for his works. Sunil revealed that the story was inspired by an encounter during one such journey, involving a person and a sight. Renjith and Sunil approached Moorthy to direct the project, believing he was suitable to handle its “nuanced characters” and “emotional depth”. Mohanlal had been attached to the film even before Moorthy’s involvement, having expressed interest in the story “a long time ago”. Speculation arose linking to , an unrealized project of Mohanlal, written by Sunil with attached as director. Moorthy clarified that was a different project developed from scratch based on a character and an event concept presented by the production team. The screenplay was completed after five drafts. Mohanlal plays the character Shanmugham, a taxi driver. Sunil noted that while the character was initially conceived independently of any specific actor, he eventually envisioned Mohanlal in the role as the story progressed. He remarked that Shanmugham embodies the essence of vintage Mohanlal, reminiscent of his characters in the films of and . Moorthy described Mohanlal’s character as down-to-earth. For the portrayal of Lalitha, the female lead character, Moorthy initially met and narrated her the story. Jyothika, who liked the script, agreed to do the film, however due to her unavailability during the shooting period, was later replaced by . It marked Shobhana’s reunion with Mohanlal after a 15-year gap, having previously worked together in numerous films. , an ad filmmaker who had earlier directed ‘s commercials was cast in a significant role. The rest of the cast includes , , , , , , Thomas Mathew, Krishna Praba, and Aravind. began on 22 April 2024, with Mohanlal and Shobhana joining on the same day. The film’s primary locations were and . The initial phase of filming took place in Kaloor East, Thodupuzha. After 70 days of shooting, the production paused for a scheduled break on 5 July. Filming was set to resume once Mohanlal completed his commitments on (2025), with approximately 20–25 days of work for still pending. Reports suggested that a brief second schedule would commence in the first week of August, lasting 10 days. This phase concluded by the end of the month. Some scenes were modified during the filming process. The final schedule started in October in . Renjith mentioned that crucial scenes were being filmed in Chennai over three days, followed by a week-long shoot in , and then in the and regions, with plans to conclude in Thodupuzha. Moorthy added that this phase also includes filming in Ranni and . Mohanlal joined the team in Chennai and was later spotted filming in Theni. The production wrapped up in Thodupuzha on 1 November 2024, after a total of 99 shooting days. The film’s title was announced later that month. Mohanlal finished his in November 2024. After the death of editor , Shafeeque V. B. took over the editing, with both of them receiving the credits. The film’s music and background score is composed by . The first single titled “Kanmanipoove” was released on 21 February 2025. The second single titled “Kadha Thudarum” was released on 21 March 2025. The soundtrack album was released through on 11 April 2025. was first scheduled for a release in theatres on 30 January 2025. The date was then revised to 25 April 2025. The dub was released on the next day with the same title. The dubbed version titled as , was released on 9 May 2025. The film’s digital streaming rights were acquired by and satellite rights by . The film began streaming on JioHotstar from 30 May 2025 in Malayalam and dubbed versions of Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada languages. received positive reviews from critics. Anandu Suresh of gave 4/5 stars and wrote “Tharun Moorthy’s Mohanlal and Shobana-starrer ranks among one of the finest Indian revenge thrillers that hasn’t compromised on any of its aspects, both on the creative and technical sides, while also ensuring brilliant performances”. Pooja Pillai of wrote that “Mohanlal returns to form in a dark, emotional ride that’s winning hearts”. S R Praveen of wrote, ” , despite its flaws, is a finely-crafted film with the right emotional beats.” Manjusha Radhakrishnan of gave 4.5/5 and wrote, ” comes together as a compelling unit not just because of Mohanlal’s restrained brilliance, but also because of its dark, macabre villains.” Arjun Menon of gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote that ” is a masterpiece for adults, a serious yet self-aware piece of cinema that has something for everybody”. Latha Srinivasan of gave 3.5/5 starts and wrote “A top-form Mohanlal shines in fan boy Tharun Moorthy’s gripping directorial”. Vignesh Madhu of gave 3.5/5 and wrote, ” Some minor flaws aside, Tharun Moorthy delivers the goods with this finely-crafted film that has the right mix of emotions and high moments.” Sanjith Sidharthan of rated 4/5 and wrote, “When the Mohanlal-starrer lands in the suspense thriller territory, there’s no holding back. The brilliant casting of Prakash Varma and Binu Pappu further elevates the film” Anna Mathews of gave 3/5 and wrote, ” lacks nuance in script and acting.” Sajin Shrijith of rated 3.5/5 and wrote, ” Even during the film’s darkest moments, the filmmaker doesn’t forget to inject us with much-welcome doses of catharsis.” Sanjay Ponappa of gave 3.5/5 and wrote, “Mohanlal’s crime drama is good mix of thrills and punches.” Cris of wrote, “Sticking to formula, is a well-made film, with every department doing a clean job. Shaji Kumar’s cinematography is especially important in a film that dwells, for a good part, in the depths of the woods.” Athulya Nambiar of wrote, “Shobana brings quiet strength and grace matching Mohanlal’s energy frame for frame while Prakash Varma makes a solid acting debut.” Princy Alexander of wrote, ” is Moorthy’s fanboy service to the actor as evident in some dialogues which also has references to and .” collected 17.18 crore worldwide on the first day of its release, with 5.10 crore from Kerala, ₹90 lakh from ROI and 11.18 crore from overseas. The film went on to gross ₹70 crore worldwide in the first three-day weekend of its release, to become the 2nd fastest Malayalam film to cross ₹50 crore. It ranked eighth on ‘s global opening weekend (April 25–27) with a gross over $7.3 million. In its first four-days it grossed ₹82 crore worldwide. The first 4-day Kerala gross was ₹27.20 crore. The film grossed ₹94.5 crore worldwide in 5 days of its release. It collected 105.85 crore in 6 days, hence becoming the second fastest Malayalam film to cross the 100 crore mark. The film collected crore by the second sunday (10 days) of its release, becoming the 6th Malayalam film to gross over 150 crore. In 12 days of theatrical run, the film has grossed crore worldwide. On its 16th day it grossed ₹3.80 crore approx in Kerala, taking its total to ₹90 crore surpassing (2023), emerging as the highest grosser at the Kerala box office. In 17 days of run, the film crossed crore worldwide. It became the first film to collect 100 crore at the Kerala box office reaching the mark on its 19th day. In 24 days, the worldwide gross was ₹222 crore and grossed 232 crore worldwide in 34 days. Made on a budget of 28 crore, the film grossed 235.30 crore worldwide, including 93.80 crore gross from and 141.50 crore gross, in which 118 crore gross is from Kerala alone. Thudarum did receive a U/A 16+ certificate for strong bloody violence, threat, sexual abusive behavior and domestic abuse.</p>