KEEPING US GUESSING

The new superhero film Minnal Murali has added to Tovino Thomas’s reputation as a performer who keeps experimenting

- Jai Arjun Singh

Tovino Thomas is, to put it mildly, a good-looking man with considerable screen presence. But that in itself doesn’t account for the important part he is playing in the Malayalam cinema renaissance. What is more notable is that Tovino’s best work gets its tension from the contrast between his hunky charm, and a vulnerability— or even unlikability—in his characters.

TOVINO THOMAS’S BEST WORK GETS ITS TENSION FROM THE CONTRAST BETWEEN HIS HUNKY CHARM AND HIS CHARACTERS’ VULNERABILITY

Some fine films—two recent examples being Kala (2021), which he also co-produced, and Kaanekkaane (2021)—have used this dichotomy to terrific effect. In both, Tovino’s personality and physical appearance help subvert a narrative, or keep us guessing. In Kala, the stylised early sequences, including a lovemaking scene, suggest that his feral character Shaji is the protagonist. But Shaji loses much of his self-assurance and we see him in a different light. In Kaanekkaane, as a man whose wife died in an accident, Tovino looks lost and distracted, then shows heartfelt emotion—but much suspense hinges on the possibility that the character is a philanderer who lied to his ex-father-in-law; so what else might he be capable of?