Film: Thayige Thakka Maga
Director: Shashank
Cast: Ajay Rao, Sumalatha,
Ashika Ranganath and Loki
After raising the bar with films such as Krishnan Love Story and Krishna Leela, director Shashank and actor Ajay Rao’s latest outing is plain disappointing. In Thayige Thakka Maga, they seem to be satisfied with mediocrity. And this, in an industry which is swiftly moving towards new-age cinema, could prove to be treacherous.
The 25th film of Ajay, which saw two directors opt out before Shashank took over, had more than one impressive reason to work with the local audience: The title bears the same name of the 1978 hit film starring Dr Rajkumar. Unfortunately, there seems to be no reason for viewers to rejoice given the cliche subject.
Thayige Thakka Maga which means ‘like mother like son’ is about Mohandas and his mother Parvarthi. ‘Point Parvathi’ (Sumalatha) is a famous lawyer in the city and her son (Ajay Rao) is a karate instructor. The duo, known in the area as ‘Maga rebel, Amma eagle’ (a literal translation meaning an eagle-like mother who has a rebellious son), goes to any extent to fight corruption.
There’s a twist when an accident takes place and Mohandas comes to the rescue of one of the victims. He traces the owner of the car, only to realise that he is the spoilt brat Sharath Kale (Loki) and son of a famous political leader, Prakash Kale (Hebbale Krishna). The story then delves into how the mother-son duo fights to bring in justice to the survivor. While that’s one part of the story, Mohandas’s love track (interspersed with much anger despite him attending an anger management course) with Saraswathi (Ashika Ranganath) runs in parallel.
The link between the two tracks is depicted through a fight between Mohandas and Point Parvathi against politicians. This puts Saraswathi’s family in deep trouble. While Mohandas and his mother help them come out of the situation, the question is whether Saraswathi will accept him again, and will Mohandas be able to control his anger?
Overall, the film has no signature of a trademark Shashank film. Although he has written the script and directed, his experiment of treading a new path seems to have fallen flat. Fight sequences (mostly karate style), dialogues and romantic scenes are repetitive. And with no hint of twists and turns, the end is too predictable. Even though the episodes are about today’s system and politics, Shashank fails to handle the subject with maturity, and connect with the audience.
Ajay, who wanted a change from the image of a romantic hero is seen playing a rebellious lead with extreme action, which fails to impress. Sumalatha has followed the director’s vision and justifies the role of a lawyer and a rebel’s mother. Ashika as Saraswathi is not just seen in a glam avatar, but has an integral role in the film. In spite of all efforts, nothing falls in place, with only and only the story to be blamed.
Sadhu Kokila is, to put it mildly, annoying at times.
A villain like Loki does not come out as a strong character, and neither do the supporting actors Achyuth Kumar, Sourav Lokesh, and Hebbale Krishna.
The background music is too jarring. Except for one track, the rest of the songs by Judah Sandy lack appeal. Apart from good picturisation of the city market, cinematographer Shekar Chandra does not impress either.
The audience has to decide whether they’d like to watch an action-packed melodrama or stick to the duo’s good old films. While we would go with the latter, the ball lies in the viewers court.