Thamma movie review: Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna are just not funny enough

Alok Goyal (Ayushmann Khurrana) is a gormless character who is to be found wandering in the middle of a jungle to create a reel that will go viral. A fearsome brown bear gives chase, and our unlikely hero finds himself in the arms of a mysterious stranger who calls herself Tadaka (Rashmika Mandanna). By the way she keeps staring at him, we are meant to deduce that there is something off-key about her, and that deduction is strengthened by the arrival of a bunch of hefty guys, all clad in black, who clearly mean them harm.

All this happens within few minutes of the opening, by which time we are already backsliding in terms of interest. Out comes a rigmarole woven around a desi ‘parjaati’ which calls themselves ‘betal’, beings who subsist on the blood of non-humans (which is the only thing that separates them from videshi ‘vampires’). Anyone who falls in love with one of the tribe will learn, soon enough, about their scary dietary preferences, and other secrets which include the power to be immortal.

All of this could have been fashioned into the kind of supernatural-horror-comedy that Maddock hit pay dirt with, beginning with their best, ‘Stree’. But the thing that kept afloat Stree and its less-effective sequel, as well as Bhediya and its ilk, was the insistence on keeping everything silly and light-on-its-feet. Rajkummar Rao is a pro at hitting those notes; even Varun Dhawan managed to take himself not seriously, which is exactly what a film like this demands.

Here, the writing veers towards set-pieces with ear-splitting background music, but is overall dull, which colours everything the cast does. Ayushmann Khurrana, adorned on and off with a pair of pointy fangs, tries hard, but is never funny enough. Nor is Mandanna, whose thick kajal-sharp contour-cool bustier game is strong, but fails to to raise any steam with her co-star. And Nawazuddin Siddiqui, in the titular role, is all flashing red eyes and snarl, and not much else.

It’s the beat that Abhishek Bannerjee, who shows up for a walk-on part, gets bang on: his entry got the loudest laugh in my first day first show. Paresh Rawal’s as Goyal Sr adds to the heaviness, even though he gets a clever line: Ayushmann bhava, he tells his son, and we smile, as we are meant to, that momentary smartness getting us past the spate of ‘Vikaspuri ke wolverines’ and ‘Sarojini Nagar ke saste Draculas’.

Somewhere in the middle of it all, a character says: bas kar bhai, bahut ho gaya. Satyavachan bhai, satyavachan.

Thamma movie cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Paresh Rawal, Faisal Malik, Sathyaraj, Geeta Aggarwal
Thamma movie director: Aditya Sarpotdar
Thamma movie rating: 1.5 stars