Thanneer Mathan Dinangal: a delicious foray into school life

Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, the directorial debut by Girish AD, who previously found his métier in short films on YouTube, is truly an entertainer for youngsters, who are good at classroom pranks.

Interwoven with romance, fight sequences and humor, the movie’s leading roles were played by Vineeth Sreenivasan, Mathew Thomas (Kumbalangi Nights fame) and Anaswara Rajan, who did a leading role in Udaharanam Sujatha. Its success goes to the entire crew who marveled at bringing onto screen original emotions.

The film is a kaleidoscope of higher secondary life spliced by a gamut of emotions—say, from youthful cheerfulness to flirtations. Mathew Thomas, who won the heart of many in 'Kumbalangi Nights', here too bewitches us. The diverse emotions that he delineates on the screen are truly stirring.

Jaison, the protagonist was an eyesore amongst his friends in the beginning. He segues from the assumed 'Jack of all' to what proves to be the ‘master of none', thanks to the surprise test by his physics teacher.  Later on he turns out to be a laughing stock in the class. It is further enhanced with the arrival of a new Malayalam teacher Ravi Padmanabhan (Vineeth Sreenivasan) who quickly becomes 'an apple of eye' to the whole campus. Though he is a man of letters to everyone, his idiosyncrasy is quite disgusting to Jaison. All his efforts to reveal the true nature of Ravi sir were dropped in the ocean. His school days proved bitter.

Love and its fulfilment, the happy bygone days of children with all naughtiness in the class, the burden of family with unemployed sons (his brother a good-for-nothing fellow, watching cricket and lying idle at home), are areas which have to be reflected on.

With all the funny elements, it’s truly a nostalgic movie for youngsters and it surpasses the expectations of 'An Adar Love’, which sought to endear all with a 'single wink’.  As a writer-cum-director of this movie Girish AD deserves applause for fascinating the audience with humor and dark humor on teachers.

Jaison is an archetype of a student we come across in our class rooms who wants to be studious but fails and be the last bencher with such surprise tests. Hats off to Mathew Thomas and all the children who carried off with their originality.

The cinematography by Jomon T John and Vinod Illampally are par excellence with dumbfound visual treats.  The music by Justin Varghese is also worth mentioning.  The song 'Jathikkathottam' evokes romance and nostalgia in the viewers.  Girish AD, the promising director has brilliantly incorporated all the elements of fun, romance, clash between friends, the innocence of the age etc. with the ease of a seasoned artist.  Though its climax is a little bit vague or quite disappointing to parents, the theatres prove its execution as meritorious.