Akhil Anilkumar’s ‘Thalavara’, with Arjun Ashokan, is a feel-good drama about a man with vitiligo

The film, however, is not about the protagonist’s condition. It is about his dream. It is a warm underdog fantasy woven around a bunch of likeable characters. The rest of this review may contain spoilers.

In Thalavara, Arjun Ashokan plays Jyothish. He has an older friend named Shyam, who is called “oldie” by their group of friends. In an early scene, Shyam comes by after dyeing his hair, eliminating the streaks of grey. It’s a casual scene in this apparently casual movie. Because if we dig a little deeper, we will see that Jyothish cannot do something similar for the condition that he has, the condition that has given him his nickname. He has vitiligo, and apart from using filters on his phone, there’s nothing he can do to eliminate the patches where his skin has lost its pigmentation. The pleasant surprise in Akhil Anilkumar’s film (which he co-wrote with Appu Aslam) is that it does not use this premise to become a noble, well-meaning weepie. It has a message, sure, but this is not the usual melodrama about a man who has to learn to accept himself. The film, instead, plays out like a warm fairy tale of an underdog with a near-impossible dream.

You can read the rest of the review here:

https://www.galattaplus.com/akhil-anilkumars-thalavara-with-arjun-ashokan-is-a-feel-good-drama-about-a-man-with-vitiligo/

You can watch the trailer / video review here:

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