Thamma Movie Review And Rating: First, we met a female spirit who turned the usual gender narrative on its head. A werewolf followed her. Then came the ghost of a boy who died after his munj ceremony and later, a headless phantom. So, why should benevolent vampires be left behind? The Maddock Horror Comedy Universe (MHCU) took their assignment rather seriously and now, Thamma has come into being. Novel, right? Yes, it was. But it’s this need for novelty that throws down the gauntlet to MHCU. The result? Thamma struggles under the weight of the lofty ambitions and conventional tropes of its own universe.
The Aditya Sarpotdar directorial opens with a sequence in 323 BC. Alexander The Great, also known as Sikandar, sets foot into the woods with his people and one of his entourage members cautions him about ‘insaanon ka khoon peene waala’ Betal. When the emperor pays no heed to his words, the omnipotent Betal descends and attacks him. The action then shifts to the present day when a reporter named Alok treks into the same forest with a couple of his peers. But soon, a bear chases him down and injures him.
When Alok almost succumbs to his destiny of being killed by a bear, Tadaka, a forest girl, comes to his rescue and protects him. It’s then revealed that she too is a member of the Betal community, that thrives on fresh blood. The leader of the community is Yakshasan, who had also sucked Alexander’s blood out. He has been held captive in a hill. Yakshasan and his followers look like humans but they hardly are. They’re immortal but don’t have a beating heart. However, there’s a conflict between him and Tadaka.
While the former still craves for human blood, Tadaka has decided to stay away from it after an epiphany hit her during the riots of 1947. She realised that humans are after all evil entities who carry venom and animosity in their hearts. Cut to the present day, Tadaka protects Alok from the clutches of Yakshasan and they go back to city life where Alok’s father senses something suspicious about him. During a tiff between Alok and a bunch of other Delhi boys, Tadaka’s fangs come out and she ends up bruising and fighting them.
