Thamma

Vampire Owl: Now, they are sneaking into vampire territory.

Vampire Bat: We do not usually let humans make mockery of us.

Vampire Owl: Unless they can really make a good movie this time.

Vampire Bat: It feels like a near impossible situation for humans.

Vampire Owl: Well, they do make strange dumb movies out of nowhere.

Vampire Bat: We cannot deny their special ridiculous skills, can we?

Vampire Owl: At least death ends them all, the useless mortals.

Vampire Bat: You know that they can do the hate-everyone part well.

Vampire Owl: Well. Hate is only the beginning, the dawn.

Vampire Bat: You know that even death is not the beginning or the end.

[Gets a podi masala dosa and three cups of Munnar tea].

What is the movie about? :: A group of vampiric creatures known as Betaals have been wandering in the forests and nearby villages of Indian subcontinent for thousands of years, making the first known appearance to outsiders during the invasion of Alexander the Great. Yakshasan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) has remained the leader of the group since the creatures were created, and has given birth to many other vampiric creatures during his long existence as an immortal. Among the vampires, Tadaka (Rashmika Mandanna) has remained the only female presence among the warriors for the last few years. After witnessing the violence among humans during the partition of Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan, the group had decided not to drink blood from humans whose violence make them poisonous and make vampire as violent as them. But this leaves vampires weaker, and with lesser quality blood from random animals that they capture from the forest where they have set their base. This does not go well with all vampires, as drinking blood from at least the most evil humans had kept them going without any remorse for their actions.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: After years of controlling the urges, Yakshasan decides to go against the decision and also turns a number of humans into vampires after drinking their blood. This violation of promise makes the situation leads to vampires imprisoning their leader in the caverns until someone else makes a similar violation which would be drinking human blood and bringing new vampires to existence. In the case of vampires, these promises are to be kept immortally. At the same time, a journalist named Alok Goyal (Ayushmann Khurrana) is caught in the same forest and is attacked by a bear, only to be saved by Tadaka. As the vampires come to hunt him, she takes him out of there and reaches his home with him. Even though his mother Sudha Goyal (Geeta Agarwal Sharma) agrees to provide her refuge as Tadaka had saved her son’s life, his father Bajaj Goyal (Paresh Rawal) remains highly suspicious. But in the vegetarian household she struggles to find enough food, almost drinking blood from the neighbour’s dog. Still, there are more troubles that await them, and it would require them to face bigger horror.

The defence of Thamma :: There is always something about Stree and its related universe that keeps us going. That kind of a strength is right behind here. The romance does have its moments even though not really going too far ahead into the depths. The music is pretty much working in favour of the mood and the songs have different touches here. The visuals nicely create the folklore mood and the looks of the city also works well. The darkness is nicely used and some horror also walks in here and there. The action stays alive as much as the feeling of danger. The dance numbers will grace our world for a long time too. There are some parts of the story which makes the connection really well, and some of the humour comes out of nowhere to create a big impact. The ending nicely sets up the situation for a fine sequel, even though one would still doubt the collaboration of so many movies. There are references to many vampire beliefs though, and the historical connections are nicely done, even though the relevance could be questioned. The movie also manages to take some strength out of the universe which has been created here, as Leo did from its world which was already established with ease.

The claws of flaw :: The movie keeps on missing the opportunities which are provided in front of it right from the beginning itself. Some of the humour would feel too silly to have the funny side going here. There are many easy routes taken here as the in-depth journey into folklore is surely not present here. We are faced with a lot of predictabilities here too. The final sequences are not that interesting and the fight just seems to be there to bring the movie too an end – not many surprises or innovations there too. The movie’s use of elements from multiple sources seems to have hurt it too, and calling this movie an action-adventure-romance-horror-thriller-comedy makes it more of something which is not really here or there. The audience can also have the doubt if this would a vampire romance trend as brought on by Stephenie Meyer a long time ago. As this particular film of the popular franchise did not bring the fame and glory that much, one can still feel that this might not even have its own single sequel. The way vampires greet each other and the unrealistic jumping fight scenes do not serve the cause either.

The performers of the soul :: Ayushmann Khurrana leads the way pretty well, even when the situation keeps on moving to the silly side. Rashmika Mandanna makes an interesting vampire, and despite the flaws of the character, manages the humour well – the look here is suited for the vampire too. After all, seeing a few scenes from Pushpa and its sequels had us feeling that her acting skills had gone missing, but here, she takes on the vampire essence really well. There might not be many actresses who would suit this kind of a vampire role. The best of humour comes from Paresh Rawal who checks out for monsters and keeps the funny side alive – Geeta Agarwal Sharma is also around with her funny moments. Varun Dhawan’s cameo was totally unnecessary as just talking about him at the end of the movie was enough – that one never really suited the movie and just pauses the fine flow around there. Sathyaraj’s cameo was fun though and it is nice to see Nora Fatehi as a vampire as much as the dancer. Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s villainy is more related to the looks and movements and there is not much to perform to create the terrifying antagonist except for in the words of others. Faisal Malik also has his shorter nice moments.

How it finishes :: Right after Rashmika Mandanna shows her vampire teeth, we see the Sensodyne Pro-enamel ad on Amazon Prime Video, which becomes the best advertisement that can be shown for a toothpaste – who better than a vampire for a toothpaste and toothbrush ad? Well, this movie serves well in many aspects, but surely not in all of them, especially as Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra did it so well a few months ago. Matching with that particular movie would feel rather difficult here. It might be the same reason why that Malayalam movie grossed so much more than this one, that too on a lower budget. As it is displayed on various websites, the success of that movie is ten times the making cost, while this one has only managed to take home the expense. But a comparison would do only half the justice, as the genre itself has some divergence, with superhero action on one side and action horror comedy on the other side. Still, this one could have managed to do better with the folklore background, as it fuels both of them. Yet, what this movie has done is pretty much interesting and engaging, as it gives us hope for connection with other movies and sequels.

Release date: 21st October 2025
Running time: 149 minutes
Directed by: Aditya Sarpotdar
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Paresh Rawal, Geeta Agarwal Sharma, Faisal Malik, Rachit Singh, Alex O’Nell, Ankit Mohan, Vinod Suyavanshi, Hritika Kanwar, Deepak Kalra, Raj Premi, Shailesh Korde, Krishna Kant Rai, Janardhan Kadam, Hashim Haider, Deepak Daryani