Thambi (2019 film)

The film starts with a fight between two teenagers Saravanan and Manimaran where Saravanan is hit on the head by Manimaran and faints. Manimaran is forced to run away leaving the fainted Saravanan on top of a lorry. The scene then shifts to 15 years later at the house of Gnanamoorthy (Sathyaraj), a politician in the Mettupalayam district, who lives with his wife Padma (Seetha), daughter Parvathy (Jyothika), and his mother (Sowcar Janaki). Parvathy spends her days in sorrow, hoping that her aggressive younger brother Saravanan (Navneeth Madhav) who had left the home 15 years ago, would return home. Her family too believes that the miracle may happen one day.

One day, Moorthy receives a call from Jeevanand (Ilavarasu), who tells him that his long-lost son is found. Moorthy finds out that his "son" is Vicky (Karthi), a trickster and tourist guide in Goa. Moorthy takes Saravanan back to his house, where Padma is elated at seeing her son. However, Parvathy does not show any affection and keeps shunning Vicky. Saravanan's childhood friend and lover Sanjana (Nikhila Vimal) is also elated to reunite with 'Saravanan'. Later, it is revealed that Jeeva and Vicky had put a plan that Vicky would act as Saravanan for a while and would steal some money and escape. Jeeva and Vicky would then share the bounty. Saravanan's friend Karan (Anson Paul), who is a police officer, doubts whether Vicky is actually Saravanan, and feels his doubts are confirmed when he asks Vicky about their childhood and he blabbers. But Parvathy shuns Karan from trying to disprove Vicky/Saravanan because anyway the joy in family has come back upon his arrival. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Moorthy is actually the one who had made Jeeva make Vicky act as Saravanan. When Jeeva blackmails Moorthy for two crores, Moorthy kills Jeeva and puts the blame on Manimaaran (Bala), who was Saravanan's friend who hit him in the head at the beginning of the movie, and is now a local politician who wants to build a resort in the nearby village.

Karan doubts Vicky in his involvement in the murder since he shows up at Jeeva's house to remove the evidence that he is a fraud. Karan doesn't find any evidence tying Moorthy or Vicky to the murder and arrests Manimaaran. It is revealed to the audience that Moorthy had entered the house once again and removed all the evidence. While Vicky is driving around in a car, he is hit by a lorry and narrowly escapes death. Another attack in the house confirms his suspicions that someone is trying to kill Saravanan and sets out to find what really happened to Saravanan. After tracing Saravanan's steps that night, he finds the lorry that hit him and on interrogating the driver, it is revealed that the perpetrator is Moorthy's right-hand man Sudhakar (Hareesh Peradi), who was angry that Saravanan had come back and he would lose the position of MLA to Saravanan.

Finally, from a clue by Saravanan's girlfriend Sanjana (Nikhila Vimal), Vicky deduces that Saravanan had come back (he had fought with his mother and sister and was the reason for Moorthy's mother's condition) and in the anger that Saravanan was the cause of his mother's paralysis, Moorthy had killed him accidentally and used the sympathy to earn votes. On confronting him, Moorthy offers Vicky money to keep the matter quiet, but Vicky tells Padma, who is also aware of the truth. Finally, Parvathy holds Vicky at gunpoint and reveals the truth.

After Saravanan had fought with his mother and sister and pushed his grandmother down the stairs, Padma and Parvathy take Moorthy's mother to the hospital. Meanwhile Saravanan who was hit on the head in a fight with his friend Manimaran, manages to escape and returns home in his bike. Moorthy and Parvathy comes back to the house and sees Saravanan in a drugged state. In a fit of rage, he keeps beating Saravanan, but when Saravanan hits him back in a drug-fueled rage, Moorthy breaks down. Parvathy tries to console her father and finds that Saravanan was doing drugs. She throws the drugs away, and Saravanan tries to choke her. In desperation, Parvathy grabs the nearest weapon and accidentally slits his throat, and Saravanan dies. In order to save his family's reputation, Moorthy fabricates a story where Saravanan had run away. Saravanan's body was interred in the forest area where the resort is now proposed to be built. Shocked at the revelation, Vicky decides to leave the house, and at the train station, Parvathy says that she had really accepted Vicky as her brother. The film ends with Vicky/Saravanan and Parvathy driving back to their home.

In March 2019, it was announced that Karthi and Jyothika would be sharing screen space together for the first time under the direction of Jeethu Joseph.[2] Later, Govind Vasantha and R. D. Rajasekhar was confirmed to be the film's music director and cinematographer respectively.[3]

Principal photography began in late April 2019.[4] The film was completed in a single schedule.[5] It was shot extensively in Palakkad, Goa, Coimbatore, and Ooty.[6] The film's title revealed to be Thambi on 15 November 2019, while also revealing that the Telugu version of the film was titled as Donga.[7]

The soundtrack is composed by Govind Vasantha,[8] and the audio rights of the film were acquired by Lahari Music. The audio launch of this film was held at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai on 30 November 2019, in the presence of Jyothika, Karthi and Suriya, who attended the event as the chief guest, along with the film's cast and crew.[9] The album features four tracks with an instrumental theme music, and the lyrics for the songs were written by Vivek and Karthik Netha.

The Times of India, reviewed it as "the album is a treat to ears, with each song having a refreshing musical touch."[10]

The album of the film's Telugu version titled ''Donga'' was released on 7 December 2019.

All lyrics are written by Ramajogayya Sastry.

Thambi was released on 20 December 2019. The theatrical rights of the Tamil version were acquired by Sakthi Film Factory.[11] while Ravuri V. Srinivas, acquired the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana distribution rights under their Harshitha Movies banner.[12]

• Thambi at IMDb