‘Thangalaan’ Cast And Character Guide

Thangalaan is the bravest film by Pa. Ranjith, who has only ventured into dramas so far. With his new film, he has ventured into historical drama as he talks about the story of a community that has been oppressed for centuries and their resilience in protecting themselves, their land, and their resources. Thangalaan is a Tamil-language film that was released on the big screen on the 15th of August 2024.

Spoilers Ahead

Thangalaan

Actor par extraordinaire, Vikram, is Thangalaan in the film, and it is about his journey to free himself and his community from the years of oppression faced at the hands of upper caste men, including rich zamindars. Thangalaan is married to Gangamma, with whom he has children as well. He is the only person to have land on his own. Thangalaan belongs to Veppur village and wants the people from his community to be able to own land, or at least to be paid for the work they do. He is not a fan of worshiping the landlord that comes by from time to time to check up on the work done in the field. 

Thangalaan is proud of his family’s history and does not shy away from talking about it with his children to remind them of their legacy. Thangalaan keeps having dreams of this one woman from time to time, which he initially ignores. He loses all the crops he planned to harvest during the season and is forced to bond labor until he pays the taxes. Thangalaan comes across a mission offered by the British officer Lord Clement to join an expedition to find the gold mines in Kolar, which are supposed to be haunted. He, along with several men from the village, decides to take the leap of faith, as this job promises money along with some respect and dignity. Thangalaan’s journey of self-discovery begins at this point. 

Gangamma

Parvathy, an extraordinary actress from the Malayalam film industry, is Gangamma, who is Thangalaan’s wife and the mother to his children. She is a feisty woman who toils hard for everyone in the family and is not cowed by her larger-than-life husband, who is the voice of reason among the villagers. Just like her husband, she stands up for what is right even though she fearlessly protects her tribe. Her only aim is to wear a blouse underneath the saree she drapes on her body, just like the upper-caste women from her village. Gangamma, just like other women in the community, has a strong role to play in the decision-making of their husbands. Gangamma, who was raised in a certain mindset, is not sure if her husband’s recent decision to go with the Britisher are the right ones. However, his safe return from the journey leaves her relieved and she stands by Thangalaan as he releases all of them from their bonded labor contracts. Gangamma joins him in the expedition to mine the gold. 

Aarthi

Malavika Mohanan is Aarthi, the sorceress who is protecting the gold-filled land from the King in Thangalaan’s story about his grandfather Kadaiyaan. Aarthi is a powerful goddess who has an army of people that fights for her to protect the land from being invaded by foreigners or kings of other lands. She is considered an enemy by them, while all she does is make sure her land and the resources exist for the use of her people and not the outsiders. 

Aarthi is vicious, as she and her army use all kinds of deadly tactics to keep people away from her place, which has gold reserves in large quantities. Aarthi appears in Thangalaan’s visions many times throughout the film, which he initially believes hinders his plans to help the Britisher Lord Clement. Aarthi slowly unveils her real self, and the real reason why Thangalaan has visions of her comes out in the open. Aarthi is from the Nagar community and could turn themselves into snakes as a ploy to keep their enemies at bay. 

Lord Clement

British actor Daniel Caltagirone is Lord Clement in Thangalaan, whose goal is to gather wealth for the Treasury as per the orders given to him. He is informed about the Kolar gold fields being a dangerous place to mine by many, including a few Indian aristocrats. He takes it as a challenge to find gold with the help of people from the village of Veppur. Thangalaan is one of them, who starts guiding the expedition towards the place using the visions that kept coming to him. Clement is the kind of person who seems to be a blessing in disguise to Thangalaan and other men who join in the expedition to find gold, as the foreigner offered to pay for the job all while providing decent food and accommodation, even though the men from the community Thangalaan belonged to were not used to being treated equally. 

Lord Clement’s offer seems too good to be true, and as their journey begins, he is the only person who is willing to believe Thangalaan because he knew his way around the work and refuses to belittle him. Clement has one goal, and he would do anything to attain it, which is to convince Thangalaan to get more people to work in the gold mine and offer them what was offered to him so far. 

Gengupattar

Pasupathy, as Gengupattar, is the only person from the Veppur village in Thangalaan’s community who becomes a Brahmin just by virtue of wearing a sacred thread. He chooses to be different from the others in his community and considers himself to be from the superior caste. Gengupattar converted several children from the village to this philosophy, which is based on the thinking of Ramanujam, a revered social reformer. As Gengupattar joins Thangalaan and other men from this village to head towards the gold mine, he is not treated the right way by the Brahmin who had joined Clement as an interpreter. 

Gengupattar chooses to ignore and question the instructions given by Thangalaan just to prove he is superior to him when it comes to the ancient knowledge of the land. However, Gengupattar is the only person who rescues Thangalaan several times from near-death events. As the days go by, the journey opens his eyes and his mind to things around him, and Gengupattar soon becomes open to the fact that he has been oppressed, and he would do anything to avenge himself and his community. 

Varadhan

Actor Hari Krishnan as Varadhan, unlike Thangalaan, is a worker in the landlord’s field in Veppur village. He comes across as someone who will not question the status quo. He is enamored by Thangalaan and Gangamma’s dynamics and wants something similar for him and his wife, Arasani. 

Varadhan followed Thangalaan to locate the gold mines only at the insistence of his wife Arasani, who wanted him to be more courageous. Varadhan is heads over heels in love with his wife, and it is her support that made him take the leap of faith to explore the haunted gold mines. Unlike other wives, she pushed her husband to earn for the family and encouraged him to do the right thing. Varadhan initially feels homesick, but he soon understands the purpose of the journey and starts taking everything around him seriously.