‘Thamma’ Movie Review: Not Enough Bite in Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna’s Supernatural Romcom (LatestLY Exclusive)

Thamma Movie Review: The biggest criticism aimed at the Marvel Cinematic Universe these days is that its films are more obsessed with building the next one than telling a good standalone story. The Maddock Horror-Comedy Universe (MHCU) seems to be catching that bug too - and Thamma, directed by Aditya Sarpotdar (who previously made Munjya for the franchise), its latest entry, lands right in that franchise-fatigue zone. ‘Thamma’ Box Office Collection Day 1: Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna’s Horror-Comedy Film Opens With INR 25 Crore in India.

What makes Thamma’s arrival more precarious is its timing. It comes right after Lokah: Chapter 1 – Chandra, another supernatural romance from Malayalam Cinema about an immortal, vampiric woman and her human soulmate - a film that not only became Malayalam cinema’s highest grosser but also a feminist pop phenomenon. Lokah, too, was guilty of franchise foreshadowing, but its strong standalone story, compelling lore, and layered characters made up for it. Thamma, on the other hand, is intermittently funny and bursting with potential, but its individual spark gets sucked dry (pun intended) by the franchise’s growing thirst for interconnectedness.

'Thamma' Movie Review - The Plot

Ayushmann Khurrana plays Alok, a TV journalist and influencer who heads into a forest with his colleagues for a story (I think, I am not sure why he is there except that the plot wants him to be there) - only to be attacked by a bear. He’s saved just in time by Tadaka (Rashmika Mandanna), a beautiful woman with an equally dramatic blouse collection. Tadaka is a betaal - part of a vampiric cult that once fed on humans but now restricts itself to animal blood.

Watch the Trailer of 'Thamma':

Naturally, Alok falls for his mysterious saviour, unaware of her truth. Tadaka, meanwhile, finds herself drawn to his heartbeat - literally. But when her tribe threatens to expose or eliminate him, the couple escapes to the city, where Tadaka meets Alok’s kind-hearted mother (Geeta Agarwal) and his perpetually suspicious father (Paresh Rawal). Soon, Alok learns of Tadaka’s secret - and an incident transforms him into something like her.

'Thamma' Movie Review - A Pulpy Beginning

The film opens centuries earlier, with a wonderfully pulpy prologue where the vampire leader Rakshashan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) ambushes Alexander the Great’s convoy, killing him and halting his conquest of India. It’s a cheeky what-if moment - the kind of mythic madness that could have fuelled a great antagonist. But the screenplay (by Niren Bhatt, Suresh Mathew, and Arun Falara) doesn’t explore the Butterfly Effect of this alternate history - apparently, India’s timeline continues unchanged, complete with British rule and Partition. Rakshashan, despite Siddiqui’s menacing charm and great potential, gets sidelined to brief appearances and punchline moments.

The film’s vampires are strangely narrow-minded too - seeing 'foreigners' as threats but ignoring the monsters within. Tadaka is harassed by Delhi men for dancing drunk, yet the film suggests only pale-skinned invaders are villains. It’s a weak metaphor wrapped in misplaced nationalism. Siddiqui, after a long time, seems to be having fun again, chewing his lines with relish (“Tu mujhe daant nikalne ke layak nahi chhoda”), but the character never becomes a genuine threat. Bhediya Movie Review: Varun Dhawan-Kriti Sanon's Film Gets Its Furry Kicks From Competent VFX, Scene-Stealing Abhishek Banerjee and the Funniest Himesh Reshammiya Joke.

'Thamma' Movie Review - The Obsessive Male Gaze

Thamma is marketed as a love story rather than a horror comedy, which feels odd considering romance has always been a key MHCU ingredient - from Stree to Bhediya and Munjya. Here, the only 'first' is the presence of two kissing scenes (one of which, predictably, the censors snipped). But more than the kisses, it’s the chemistry that’s missing. The writing doesn’t earn the emotional connection between Alok and Tadaka; their love feels manufactured. Where Stree had genuine yearning and Bhediya built an emotional payoff (even with CGI wolves), Thamma settles for skin-deep passion. The camera seems more interested in Rashmika’s midriff and cleavage than the relationship itself.

For a film boasting a female lead with power and agency, Thamma’s gaze remains disappointingly male. Tadaka may be the 'stronger' partner, but she’s still shot through the lens of objectification. Not to mention, the film has three separate item numbers, one of which is focused on her. Having an overpowered woman doesn’t automatically make your film feminist - especially when her identity is reduced to abs, cleavage, and plot convenience.

'Thamma' Movie Review - The Comedy Works in Bits and Parts

The comedy, thankfully, offers relief. Alok’s fumbling attempts to hide his vampire side are genuinely funny - like when he realises he can’t lie without baring his fangs. Paresh Rawal also gets some jokes made in his inimitable style, though I am not sure if the makers intended to see the irony of casting him as a character who hates his son's lover, a person of a different tribe, first due to doubts of honeypotting and then over 'conversion'.

Yet the comedy comes at the compromise of reducing its themes to jokes, like attaining immortality at the cost of losing humanity, or even the horror part. In fact, apart from the first Stree film, the MHCU movies are more supernatural than horror - there's hardly anything scary about them anymore.

'Thamma' Movie Review - Franchise Expansion at the Cost of Standalone Appeal

By the second half, Thamma abandons its own plot in a major stretch to expand the MHCU multiverse. Sathyaraj’s occult expert from Munjya drops by. Abhishek Banerjee - now the Phil Coulson of the Maddockverse - shows up too. There’s a meta-joke about the Khurrana brothers both being in the same universe. Varun Dhawan’s Bhediya makes an appearance as well, and he gets a plot-induced 'Hulkified' makeover. Alas, instead of deepening the story, these cameos flatten it into a teaser reel for future sequels.

When Thamma finally returns to its own story, the energy is gone. It introduces half-baked ideas - like a vampire rave underworld straight out of Blade - then drops them without payoff. The finale devolves into forgettable action and all convenient power-ups in service of a sequel setup, even the villain track doesn't get a proper conclusion, leaving it for some other film. The visual effects are decent, though still rough around the edges; the creatures should feel like they are in a movie rather than in a videogame, a well-rendered one at that, but still very video-gamey. ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’ Movie Review: Kalyani Priyadarshan Powers Malayalam Cinema’s First Female Superhero Film With Naslen’s Solid Support.

PS: If the vampires don't have beating hearts, why do they need the blood? And why do they have veins? Also, why is a swarm of bats helping a werewolf make his grand entrance? Aren't the bats supposed to be on the vampires' side?

'Thamma' Movie Review - Final Thoughts

Thamma is packed with romance, supernatural action, horror, cameos, and franchise ambition - but it forgets the simplest rule of storytelling: make us care. It wants to be a supernatural romance, a horror comedy, and a universe builder all at once, but ends up a patchwork of moments that never bite deep enough. Ayushmann Khurrana is auto-mode here, Rashmika Mandanna looks luminous, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui nearly steals the show - yet none of it can save Thamma from being a vampire flick drained of its soul.

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 22, 2025 06:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).