Now that Maddock has its own horror comedy universe, it was only a matter of time that critters shared space across films.
Thamma, directed by Aditya Sarpotdar, decides to have more fun with the genre, and turn the Twilight kind of vampire-human romance trope on its head, and then let the werewolf of Bhediya (Varun Dhawan) stomp over it. A tune from Stree 2 plays in the background, a character from Munjya makes a guest appearance. Of course Abhishek Banerjee has to drop in! A cosy clan is getting established.
The prologue is set in 326 BC, when the conquering march of Alexander is halted by an indigenous group of vampires (called betaal in the film). In the present, Alok (Ayushmann Khurrana) is chased by a bear in the forest, and wakes to the pretty face of Tadaka (Rashmika Mandana), who belongs to a hidden tribe of betaal—who share the retractable fangs and blood-sucking habits with Dracula and his ilk, but are not affected by sunlight and other vampire myths. They are an ethical bunch that actually seeks to protect humans from evil, much to the annoyance of their imprisoned leader, Yakshasan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Tadaka has been on earth for hundreds of years, but has a seemingly endless supply of eye make up and nail polish, plus a tailor to make tight, low-cut cholis.
Alok falls in love with Tadaka, without much curiosity about her decidedly strange jungle life. He brings her home to happy mom (Geeta Agarwal) and suspicious dad (Paresh Rawal), and some ‘adjustment’ comedy ensues (Help! My Girlfriend Is A Vampire). Alok turns into a betaal too, and from a silly lovelorn man, he becomes a roof-hopping superhero type, who has duels with other scary creatures, without Delhi even blinking an eye to the mayhem on its terraces. Maybe because the cops –Faisal Malik among them—have their own underground society, where Nora Fatehi turns up to shake a leg, while Malaika Arora gets to dance in a proper Delhi pub.
The somewhat charming love story now turns into a mishmash of action, mumbo-jumbo and cartoonish violence. There is not enough of the English-speaking Yakshasan here (he sucked the blood of British colonialists!) in this film, they are saving him for the sequel. But the few scenes he gets, Siddiqui owns them completely, almost demanding a spin-off film his own. Khurrana and Mandanna dutifully do their teeth-baring, and mooning over each other in the inter-species love story, that depends a bit too much on familiarity with the earlier films for its laughs, and remains cheerfully tacky in its production design and visual effects. Still, it’s mostly entertaining and not grotesquely horror-inducing.
(This piece first appeared in rediff.com)
