Da Thadiya is a 2012 Malayalamromantic comedy film directed by Aashiq Abu, and starring Sekhar Menon in the lead role along with Nivin Pauly, Ann Augustine and Sreenath Bhasi in the supporting roles. The film was produced by Anto Joseph in association with OPM cinema. DJ Sekhar Menon who had worked as the same in around 500 stages makes his film debut as an actor. The film released on 21 December 2012 to mixed to positive reviews from critics and audience.It is the only film where actor Nivin Pauly acts in a negative role.
Plot
The film tells the love story of an obese youth named Luke John Prakash. His close pal is his cousin, a video jockey. Luke comes from a wealthy family, and his grandfather, Prakash was once mayor of Kochi and formed his own political party. Since childhood, Luke was in love with another obese girl named Ann Mary Thadikkaran, whose parents are working in an insurance company. One day, Ann Mary's parents get a transfer to Ernakulam and she along with her parents shift to Ernakulam. Many years later, Ann Mary comes back to meet Luke in his house and surprisingly she has lost weight. One day, Ann Mary takes Luke to a restaurant. He falls and breaks the chair. Realizing she is not so fond of his obesity, Luke embarks on an Ayurvedic treatment run by Rahul Vaidyar to lose weight. One day, Luke escapes from the Ashram to meet Ann Mary on a Christmas Eve. There he is shocked to realize that Ann Mary is the agent of the Ashram and she does not love him at all. Luke finds out that she is in love with Rahul Vaidyar, who upon seeing him with Ann Mary, does a special punch that brings Luke to the ground. Rahul insults his figure, and says that he is "a mere machine that produces feces". Luke feels he is a good for nothing. However his grandmother motivates him by telling fat people are broad-minded and his late grandfather who was also fat was the mayor of Kochi had achieved much. In a dream Luke sees his grandfather telling that generations are necessary to accomplish the unfinished tasks of their forefathers. Inspired by this, Luke joins his father's political party Prakash Congress and finally becomes the mayor of Kochi. Ann Mary's father comes to meet Luke in the Mayor's office. He is shocked to realize that Rahul Vaidyar is a corrupt person and he is making money by decreasing the self-esteem of many people through advertisements and posters. Luke has Rahul's business raided forcing Rahul to go into hiding. He then discovers Rahul at his hiding place, beats him badly and warns him to stop his business. The story comes back to the present as Luke is waiting for Ann Mary in the beach. Ann Mary says sorry to Luke and proposes to him. But to everyone's surprise Luke rejects her proposal telling her that he is not her superman. He also thanks her for teaching him that it is better to live for many than to live for one.
The film features score and soundtrack composed by Bijibal. The song "Enthanu Bhai" which was officially released in YouTube in November was a tremendous success and registered 4 lakh hits in the Internet within a month of its release. There has been allegations that the song was inspired by Sneha Khanwalkar's songs "Yere..." and "tung tung". Aashiq Abu is not perturbed by these allegations. "I prefer not to respond to such allegations. I want the listeners to decide for themselves. Our song has been electronically created for the film, while 'Yere...' has original sounds," he says.
Critical reception
Rediff gave the movie 3/5 stars, stating the film shows "If your goal is the common good of the people then you can achieve unprecedented success" and that "The message that slimming clinics are mostly run by quacks who wish to cash in on the vulnerability of fat people does not get diluted in the fun and frolics." Veeyen at nowrunning.com gave the movie 3/5 stars
