Thanga Magan (2015 film)

Thanga Magan
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	R. Velraj
Written by	R. Velraj
Produced by	Dhanush G. N. Anbu Chezhiyan
Starring	Dhanush Samantha Ruth Prabhu Amy Jackson
Cinematography	A. Kumaran
Edited by	Rajesh Kumar
Music by	Anirudh Ravichander
Production companies	Wunderbar Films Gopuram Films
Distributed by	Sri Green Productions
Release date	18 December 2015 (2015-12-18)
Running time	121 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Thanga Magan (transl. Golden Son) is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by R. Velraj. Dhanush produced the film and stars alongside Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Amy Jackson, while K. S. Ravikumar and Radhika Sarathkumar play supporting roles. It follows a man whose peaceful life is disrupted by his father's suicide, prompting him to investigate.

The film was announced in December 2014. Filming took place between March and October 2015, with the film remaining untitled until after completion. It was released on 18 December 2015, and became a box office failure.

Plot

Tamizh, his wife Yamuna, and mother move into an uncomfortable home. Tamizh leaves them with his friend Kumaran while he looks for a job. All the companies are pleased with his resume but are hesitant to give him a job due to occurrences in his past job. Desperate, Tamizh gets a job at a roadside biriyani shop. He comes home for the night after he gets drunk, and flashback starts.

5 years earlier, college student Tamizh, Kumaran, and Tamizh's cousin Aravind were inseparable friends. One day, Tamizh's mother tells him to go to the temple for a pooja (blessing ceremony). There he meets Hema, who is an Anglo-Indian and architect student and likes her. Tamizh and Kumaran leave out Aravind, as they feel due to his better looks, he might hinder their attempts at the girls. Tamizh starts to woo her and the two eventually fall in love, while Kumaran and Tamizh's neighbour Revathi also fall in love. For their first anniversary, Tamizh, Hema, Kumaran, and Hema's friend Revathi go to Darjeeling without telling Aravind and Tamizh's father Vijayraghavan. Feeling guilty, he decides he will tell them both the truth once he goes back to Chennai. But Aravind has followed the group, says he never wants to see Tamizh again for betraying him, and storms off. Later, when Hema and Tamizh are discussing their future, Tamizh learns that Hema doesn't envision his parents living with them in their marital home. This infuriates Tamizh and they both fight, eventually leading to their break-up.

They both move on with their own lives. Tamizh starts work as a junior officer at his father's Income Tax office, Hema marries Aravind. Later Tamizh's family arranges his marriage with Yamuna. They gradually fall in love with each other and eventually forgets Hema. One day, Vijayraghavan returns home tense and shouts at his wife. The next morning, when Yamuna opens the bathroom door, it is found that Vijayraghavan had hung himself. Everybody accuses him of stealing an important tax file from his office. Tamizh is also suspended without pay and the Govt Quarters Chief evicts him due to bad name. At the same time Yamuna informs her family that she might be pregnant. Tamizh, Yamuna and his mother are asked to evict; they stay at Yamuna's parents' house, but end up leaving due to her parents mistreating Tamizh. They stay at a hut temporarily as Tamizh works at the roadside biriyani shop. Overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, Tamizh cries out to Yamuna on struggling to live with these struggles, but she comforts and supports him throughout.

In the present, Tamizh tries to gather information about his father. A close friend of Vijayraghavan sees Tamizh and says Vijayraghavan once mentioned a bag of money. So Tamizh goes to see his boss Prakash, who tells him he gave Vijayraghavan 50 million rupees to protect from an impending raid, but Vijayraghavan forgot what he did with the money. Prakash thinks he stole it, so he took the tax file, and demanded Vijayraghavan return the money to get the file back. Tamizh remembers Vijayraghavan once arguing with Aravind, so he goes to see him about the money. Aravind denies knowing about it. Later, Hema confronts Aravind, who admits he took the money for his business, but was going to return it once he was settled, but Vijayraghavan killed himself before that. Hema meets Yamuna in the temple and tells her the truth behind the money. Tamizh searches Aravind's house and learns that Aravind is going to use the money to pay for a construction investment. Kumaran tricks the builder into revealing details about the deal closure, and convinces the dealer to change the meeting time from 7:00 to 9:00. Aravind shows up at 7:00 and encounters Tamizh there. After a brief altercation, Tamizh takes the money with him, but it amounts to just 10 million.

That night, thieves try to steal the money, but Tamizh wards them off. The next day, Tamizh is tipped off that there will be an income tax raid at his house. Tamizh has Kumaran protect the money, but Aravind intercepts Kumaran and takes it back. Tamizh tracks down one of Aravind's associates who has 40 of the 50 million rupees. Tamizh beats him up and takes the money back. Aravind finds out about this and tries to protect the rest, eventually losing his mind in the process. Tamizh visits Aravind and reminds him how happy they were when before money was involved. Aravind realises his mistake and gives the money back to Tamizh, asking for his forgiveness. Tamizh goes to Prakash with the money and asks for the tax file back. But Prakash reveals that he sold the file for 500 million rupees and that Tamizh should take 50 million to forget the issue. Tamizh doesn't want it and tells Prakash to accept his mistake and cancel his suspension.

Same night, Tamizh takes Yamuna to the hospital because she is having labour pains. En route, Prakash's goons try to kill Tamizh, but he successfully fights back. He later calls Prakash and tells him to turn on the news, where his assistant is revealing Prakash's corrupt activities. Tamizh then tells him that he gave his assistant the 50 million rupees to confess. Prakash is arrested, and Yamuna gives birth to a boy. The film ends with a happy Tamizh leaving for work.

Cast

• Dhanush as Thamizh Vijayraghavan
• Samantha Ruth Prabhu as Yamuna
• Amy Jackson as Hema D'Souza (voiceover by Andrea Jeremiah)
• K. S. Ravikumar as Vijayraghavan
• Radhika Sarathkumar as Thamizh's mother
• Adith Arun as Aravind
• Sathish as Kumaran
• Jayaprakash as Prakash Kumar
• M. S. Bhaskar as Prakash's assistant
• Seetha as Aravind's mother
• Shan as Varun
• Uday Mahesh as Jen Builders agent
• Poorthi Pravin as Revathi
• R. Velraj as Ramalingam (cameo appearance)

Production

In October 2014, R. Velraj, who directed Dhanush in the successful Velaiilla Pattadhari (2014), said he planned to reunite with the actor and was already writing a script. That December, Dhanush confirmed the project had entered development, and announced that Amy Jackson would appear in the film. Later the same month, Samantha Ruth Prabhu joined the cast. K. S. Ravikumar plays Dhanush's father. Dhanush recalled that since Ravikumar was already a successful director, "He understood every aspect the way the director had visualised it. He went in for as many takes as were needed".

The film began production in March 2015, and remained untitled until October 2015. Despite not being a sequel to Velaiilla Pattadhari, it was referred to by the media as VIP 2, and the team ended up using that as a working title before officially settling on Thanga Magan, previously the title of a 1983 film. The film was originally titled Tamizh Magan until executives insisted on Thanga Magan.

Jackson finished work in the film in June 2015, after filming sequences alongside the other two lead actors. ln July 2015, a fight scene and montage shots were shot without Velraj, who had to prioritise his work as cinematographer for Paayum Puli. Velraj consequently denied reports that he had a fallout with the rest of the team. Filming wrapped by October.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Anirudh Ravichander. The audio was released on 26 November 2015 digitally, and the audio launch was held a day later.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Oh Oh"	Dhanush	Dhanush, Nikhita Gandhi	4:36
2.	"Enna Solla"	Dhanush	Shweta Mohan	3:36
3.	"Tak Bak"	Dhanush	Anirudh Ravichander	2:34
4.	"Jodi Nilave"	Dhanush	Dhanush, Shweta Mohan	2:58
Total length:				13:44

Release

Thanga Magan's Tamil Nadu theatrical rights were sold to Sri Green Productions. The film was released on 18 December 2015.

Critical reception

DNA India rated the film 3 stars and said, "Watch the movie for the fine performances by the lead actors." The film was also reviewed by The New Indian Express, The Times of India, The Hindu, and Rediff.com.

Accolades

At the 63rd Filmfare Awards South, Shweta Mohan won the award for Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil for singing "Enna Solla", while Radhika Sarathkumar won the award for Best Supporting Actress – Tamil. Dhanush was nominated for the Best Male Playback Singer – Tamil for singing "Oh Oh", while K. S. Ravikumar was nominated for Best Supporting Actor – Tamil.

External links

• Thanga Magan at IMDb 
• Thanga Magan at Rotten Tomatoes