User Reviews

Well written investigation thriller ; good performances of all the actors , especially Asif Ali is fierce and Biju Menon also gave strong performance!

Script by newcomers Anand Thevarkkat & Sarath Perumbavoor with sharp direction by Jis Joy is the backbone of the movie with splendid BGM work by deepak dev, cinematography is nice and other technical department done a neat work !!!!

Solidly crafted twist and turns and engaging narration from thew start to a very good ending make Thalavan is must watch movie in theatre!

Go for this if you love good crime investigative Movies !!!

My rating 8.8.

This movie is excellent thriller movie. Gripping and Engaging. The plot twists are genuinely surprising, and the climax is satisfying. Its compelling narrative, stellar performances, and striking visual.

The lead actors Asif Ali and Biju Menon did their role perfectly. This investigation thriller will make you guessing until climax scene. If you are a fan of investigation thriller movies it will not disappoint you.

In conclusion, "Thalavan" is a gripping police investigation thriller that stands out for its strong performances, meticulous direction, and compelling narrative. It offers a well-crafted blend of suspense and drama, ensuring that viewers are thoroughly engaged from start to finish.

High pace and engaging thriller, very underrated, best among the recent releases.

Acting are top notch by by Biju menon and Asif Ali, action choreography was not very great, story is not unique but we feel very different. But the roles where felt very repetitive for both the leads, ending have a closure and but may feel confusing if you don't pay attention. There is a chance you may not feel fulfilled by the climax.

In summary i would say well written movie with some twist and turn, director and writers did a good job to avoid any predictability. I hope the movie will catch up the pace in the coming weeks. Please not that I don't have any technical knowledge about films i don't even watch trailers i tried to enjoy the film as a common guy I loved it.

Thalavan (The Chief) Malayalam Movie Review

A mind-blowing crime thriller backed by solid performances of the two lead artists.

Directed by Jis Joy starring Biju Menon & Asif Ali in lead roles.

From feel good to crime thriller, director Jis Joy proved that he could well conceive a thriller movie too.

Talking about the technical aspects, quality rich cinematography from Sharan Velayudhan. Deepak Dev's BGM blends with the mood of the movie.

After Ayyappanum Koshiyum, another tough performance from ASIF - BIJU MENON combo.

Well penned screenplay enough to create an ambience of suspense till the end.

Overall, a must watchable theatrical experience.

In fact, after watching Laapataa Ladies, I was still in the hangover when I sat down to watch this movie. And I must say I am totally impressed. More so the long list of the cast doesn't involve any so called super stars and yet it has pulled off. For me it is mainly the success of the script. Obviously, the direction and casting bag a lot of applause. These are two key areas that almost control the direction of a movie. And for this movie, the script, casting and direction, all these major aspects just jelled well. I would have given only a 7 on 10. But I am going for 8 for the aforesaid reasons. Also to make sure that movies such as these are not discouraged on the basis of ratings.

Thalavan is an expansive narrative investigative thriller movie. The film narrates the tale of fabricating a case to get revenge on a police officer. The story indicates the accused characters come to know the truth in their own unique ways. The director of feel-good films, Jis Joy, demonstrated his directing abilities in the thriller genre. Asif Ali and Biju Menon, the main characters, have performed admirably in their roles.

The initial half of the script is quite original. However, it then revealed certain differences in the narrative's flow. Similar to previous mystery thrillers, the plot developed as a story within a story. Using this method has the drawback that once the investigator finds out who the leads are to the next part, they will no longer be able to concentrate on the other important individuals in the story. The story moves forward without considering the earlier leads. It was probably a decent twist, but not really good.

But after watching the movie, some viewers could feel as though something is missing.

Finally, Asif Ali made a great decision to act in a movie which has a solid story. I wouldn't say the same about the screenplay but the movie is superb and you won't notice the drawbacks due to the craft of the director- Jis Joy.

Biju Menon was great as usual and it's been a long time since we watched him in an 'housefull' theatre. The chemistry between Asid and Menon was great throughout and the production design was also aptly selected by the creators, making this movie unique in its own way.

The supporting actors were also superb. Kottayam Naseer has come a long way and I'm happy for him. Finally, he is getting some good and serious roles.

A shoutout to Jis Joy for venturing outside the feel-good zone even when his last attempt at a thriller didn't work. Thalavan delivers the goods as a police procedural with plenty of characters, their details and dynamics. The first act makes you think it's yet another addition to the Malayalam Ego Clash™ universe. However, Thalavan properly gets going once the main murder plot kicks in. There's an unnecessary song and a mediocre fight sequence following it, but those are the only detractions. Asif Ali is clearly in fine form here, and once again proves his mettle as a performer when he dons the police uniform. Biju Menon is solid too, and since we've already seen him and Asif work together as leads before, their efforts here come across as no surprise. The same goes for much of the supporting cast (ft. Dileesh Pothan, Jaffer Idukki, Miya George, Anushree, etc.), even in instances of weakly written dialogue.

Deepak Dev's musical score makes you invested in the proceedings, though I'd have placed the Thalavan theme song at a different point within the film. The key antagonist gets a meaty arc and a well-established motive, though I wish Jis had exhibited greater finesse in the final reveal. From a writing standpoint, there are several decoys thrown at us. If you're a longtime thriller buff, you should be able to distinguish between an actual lead and a decoy without much fuss. Though this isn't a film with a lot of guns and fist-fights, they could've still done a better job with the stunts. Nonetheless, with all its flaws, the film is worth a watch on the big screen.

Thalavan

An engaging crime thriller by Jis Joy completely breaking his comfort zone.

The plot of the story is on the lives of two police officers and how they get involved personally in one of the crimes they got to investigate and how they find the culprit forms the crux of the story.

The movie takes us through the emotions that policemen carry in and off the uniform. Jis Joy has brilliantly executed the movie by connecting many characters in the story and smarty confusing the audience on identifying the real culprit. The story takes shape through Dileesh Pothan's character narration.

Jis Joy has perfectly worked out the Asif Biju Menon combo in the movie and their performance as cops was one on one. 🔥🔥Biju Menon made a versatile performance as a senior cop 👏👏 and this will be a benchmark performance by Asif as a cop. 👌👌

The brilliance of the story is evident as one of the writers,Anand Thevarakkatt and Sharath Perumbavoor is a cop by profession. There were no cliche dialogues in his pioneer attempt of screenplay writing for a new genre unlike other feel good movies of Jis Joy and was spot on. 👌

Impressive performances by Kottayam Nazeer,Dileesh Pothan,Anusree. 👏👏

Music & BGM's of Deepak Dev was good and justifying for this crime investigation thriller. Editing by Sooraj E S worked well and kept fully engaged & interested to the movie.

Jis Joy has left the audience decide who is the real 'THALAVAN' at the tailend.

A must theatre experience for all crime investigation thriller lovers. 👌👌

Rating - 3.75/5.

Acting was good but the story is so average. Same flashback and revenge genre, combined with the concept of 'thrill'. I wish I hadn't wasted my 2 hour watching this overhyped loved. The whole movie felt like the writer wanted to create a 'thriller' but didn't know how to. So, the writer sticked up old Malayalam revenge stories into one movie called 'Thalavan'. I feel bad for the audience who will go through the whole movie experience to reach disappointment. In this modern era of successful Malayalam movies, 'Thalavan' is a shock from the past. SKIP this movie easily and you'll save 2 hours. Bad bad bad.

Jis joy has proved he is not only for the feel good movies, he can deal with thrillers as well. From the start to the end, the movie is very engaging and we will keep searching for that culprit. He gives us various of suspects throughout the movie. I want to mention his casting, which is brilliant and each of them perform upto the mark. This is a comeback of Asif ali, after couple of failures recently. The golden combo of Biju Menon and Asif Ali's once again proved what they are capable of. At the end, I felt like would have better if they chose someone else as the culprit. Felt like the motive behind the murder is not strong enough. But it's not too bad. After all it's a good crime thriller I have watched after a while. I recommend you to watch it in theatres, I guarantee you, you won't disappoint.

A very neat investigation thriller that is able to be well made with nuanced while being pretty commercial. What I loved the most about the movie other than the perfect pacing of this movie is the theme that all policemen start thinking like criminals. That could raise a lot of questions but it is truly a way of thinking that would help understand and help police in general too. The way the film starts with a "Charithram Enniloode" style show and how the main story is started may not seem the best way to start the movie at first, but it works out great later. The way the film was able to move through so many characters while slowly revealing the small connections throughout was really fun to watch. The intensity brought out by the actors helped a lot too, the acting was really great across the board. The way the movie ended would've made me think they were setting up an unnecessary sequel if they hadn't started the movie they did. Because of how it began and was set up before the actual story began, it was convincing to me that there must be something more to the story even though seemingly everything was tied up. The song felt unnecessary and didn't feel like it matched with how the rest of the movie was going because it directly stood with that character at that point instead of being a spectator. There were a couple of scenes where the editing seemed off, maybe they didn't shoot it keeping the 180 rule, I just noticed that the editing seemed jarring for no reason in those scenes. But these small issues didn't really affect my enjoyment of the film. It's the better investigation movie of the year in Malayalam and I'd be interested in the sequel.

~ ' Thalavan' directed by Jis Joy starring Biju Menon and Asif Ali is an Investigation thriller done right. The plot of the film is interesting and keeps you engaged throughout the film. The performances were really good , the entire cast did well , really loved Jaffer Idukki's character , he was hilarious . However the real standouts were Asif Ali as Karthik who did a brillaint job , so happy to see him finally get a good character and a good film. Biju Menon just as always delivers a great performance. The background score of the film is another highlight which is done by Deepak Dev. The film has good frames aswell. As an thriller , it does what it is supposed to do that is to engage you and thrill you. Jis Joy has done a good job directing a crime thriller. Overall it's a good watch.

The film narrates the tale of two police officers, Jayashankar and Karthik who are posted at the same station but are not on the same page. Their lives take a serious turn when the body of a woman is found on the terrace of the former's house. This soon balloons into a sensational case due to the involvement of a police officer and there is a lot of pressure on the department to arrest the perpetrator. So, is Jayashankar being set up, or is he actually guilty? Was he having an affair with the dead woman? Why was she constantly in touch with him? Asif Ali and Biju Menon both deliver strong performances in the Malayalam thriller #Thalavan. Some more brutality would have definitely added value to the film. Rating 3/5.