The first half of “Jagame Thandiram” is a magnificently crafted gangster film that I loved, but the sloppy social messaging and heroizing of the second half ruins the film.

Watching this is like seeing two different films made with the same actors, but different directors. One film is made by a director who is at the height of his craft while the other is made by someone who thinks he can put a band aid on a bullet hole.

Though I wasn’t a great fan of “Petta”, I love Kathik Subaraj films. He has distinct directorial flourishes that are fantastic to watch. Just look at the first half of this film, it is chalk full of great ideas and scenes. There are fantastic images in the film, from the intricately staged long shots to an incredible 360 shot that steals the show.

I also loved the main characters of the film, from Dhanush’s character (Surili) to Joju George’s Sivadoss. There is a intricate smuggling plot that I really liked, and I especially loved James Cosmo as Peter. Usually, English villains are inaccurately written, with some villains even unable to speak proper English, but here you have a villain who is fittingly evil, clever, and vile.

This only goes to show you how shocked I was at disastrous, generic, and tone-deaf second half of this film. What happened? Well, I’ll tell you. I’ve been saying this for years, Indian cinema is plagued with the idea of shoehorning in blatant social messaging into films. The social message, more so than not, does not fit into the narrative well and ends up hurting the film. Even more so, it’s a shame how Indian films try to solve these complex problems by throwing a hero at it.

The second half of “Jagame Thandiram” tries to tackle the international refugee crisis. A topic that is extremely nuanced, controversial, and delicate. We see glimpses of the refugee crisis issue in the first half, but the topic isn’t brought to the forefront until the second half.

The whole premise of the refugee crisis is introduced by a character that I didn’t really care much about. It’s done through a love angle (that in itself doesn’t work well) and through lazy flashbacks that don’t impact you the way it should. It doesn’t make you care about the issue. The film looses the style that was built up and becomes very, very plot heavy; it’s like another film. All the while, it tries to convince you of character motivations that just don’t fit the bill; Dhanush’s character does a complete 180 in a matter of a couple of minutes. There needed to be more here in order for us to care, but it just feels superficial and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

There is also the shameful heroizing. Are we really suppose to believe that Dhanush’s character solves the international refugee crisis in London?

I really loved the first half, but at the end of the day, this film is a massive disappointment and could have been so much more. It’s a real shame for me to be saying this, because “Jagame Thandiram” is a supremely well acted film, the cinematography is great, and the music by Santosh Narayan is incredible. I loved seeing Karthik Subaraj’s flourishes, but the whole issue of the refugee crisis was not well done at all. The film would’ve benefitted from that entire subplot being taken out. The second half is sloppy, hasty, and ended up really hurting the experience. Even the ending of the film is laughable at best.