Well, Dhoomakethu is different from that, and what makes Dhoomakethu a really fun entertainer is the fact that it has a very rooted setting.
Lathin Kumar, a 36-year-old guy, is finally getting married after searching really hard for an alliance.
But with an Azhakiya Ravanan spoof and a grounded yet visually scaled-up showdown towards the end of the movie, Dhoomakethu gets its rhythm back.
Nikhila Vimal’s character in the early portions felt less significant, as everything is focused around Lathin Kumar.
But in the second half, Sharmila gets the spotlight, and Nikhila handled the humor bits very convincingly on screen.
There are so many time-loop concepts in Indian cinema, and in the mainstream, we have seen movies like Maanadu, Loop Lapeta, etc. in the recent past. When the trailer of Dhoomakethu dropped, some of the comments were about whether it was the same as the recent Hindi film Bhool Chuk Maaf, where the protagonist was unable to get married as he was stuck on the day before marriage. Well, Dhoomakethu is different from that, and what makes Dhoomakethu a really fun entertainer is the fact that it has a very rooted setting. Even though the graph drops slightly in the middle of the second half, the movie gets back to its mad energy in the finale, and what you get is an entertainer that focuses more on the humor over concept.
Lathin Kumar, a 36-year-old guy, is finally getting married after searching really hard for an alliance. His bride’s name is Sharmila, and Lathin is all excited about the wedding, as many people feel that Sharmila is way out of his league. After the wedding, during the first night, certain strange things happen, and Lathin eventually wakes up on the day of his marriage. What we see in Dhoomakethu is Lathin trying to figure out why this is happening to him.
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The structure of the movie doesn’t really experiment with what already exists. In all these time-loop movies, we see the central character getting shocked at discovering what is happening around them and then eventually using all that knowledge to find a way to escape from it. Dhoomakethu also follows the same pattern. The difference is that while other films are more invested in the mechanism of the whole time-loop structure, Sudhi Maddison’s movie focuses more on the humor that can happen in our socio-political scenario.
The first half of the movie is the most entertaining one. We are being introduced to how the time-loop thing functions in this story, and all the events and the hero’s different reactions to each iteration of those events will make you laugh out loud. Actually, the humor only increases with each iteration. When it comes to the second half, it becomes more about the reasons why all this is happening, and the journey to find the masked men takes the form of a social satire. I think that’s the only area where the movie’s energy level is dropping. But with an Azhakiya Ravanan spoof and a grounded yet visually scaled-up showdown towards the end of the movie, Dhoomakethu gets its rhythm back.
Sudhi Maddison, who previously made Neymar, gives the movie that eccentric pitch which matches the film’s overall tone. The film is written by Sonny and Manu, and more than the concept, I would say the way they infused grounded humor into the idea is what made the movie entertaining. From spoofing movie templates to criticizing online voyeuristic media and society’s judgmental mentality, multiple things are running in the background, and some of them are really hilarious. As I said, the area where they have dedicated a space to talk about people’s judgmental nature is perhaps the only area where the movie felt slightly dull. Ankit Menon’s music is in perfect sync with the tone shifts in the movie.
Sajin Gopu’s Lathin Kumar is like a hybrid of his characters from Painkili and Ponman, and I feel, from a humor point of view, that mix helps to crack the comedy in the script very effectively. From the initial frustration to the way he calmly reacts to the realities he already knows, the guy is scoring in this movie, especially in the first half. Nikhila Vimal’s character in the early portions felt less significant, as everything is focused around Lathin Kumar. But in the second half, Sharmila gets the spotlight, and Nikhila handled the humor bits very convincingly on screen. Ganapathi as the friend of Lathin Kumar was fun to watch. Manju Pillai delivered a memorable performance as the hero’s mother. Shine Tom Chacko, in his usual elements, was a good choice, and the firefly scene was a hilarious one. Sidharth Bharathan, Niyas Backer, etc., are there in small yet memorable roles. A special mention to the sound presence of Suresh Krishna.
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The mysterious characters in this movie are not a product of the fantasy layer in the story, and that, in my opinion, is helping the film to be more rooted. With a lot of laugh-out-loud moments that come as a result of the unnatural scenarios in the story making us chuckle at regular intervals, Dhoomakethu is an entertaining watch that sticks to its core theme and doesn’t waste any time with unnecessary humor. Backed by good performances, this witty time-loop comedy is worth the two hours you spent in the theater.
