Tholvi FC review: A light-hearted entertainer that speaks of dreams and passions

Tholvi FC, in a nutshell, means Failure FC. The title in itself conveys the gist of the movie.

It is the story of a family where a husband and wife and their children try to do something that they are passionate about.

Though the subject of unemployment is still a hot cake for the filmmakers, the central characters in Tholvi FC aren’t poor but they strive hard to be victorious in their lives in their own way.

Director George Kora narrates the obstacles they face in a comical way.

Synopsis

Oommen Kuruvila (Sharafudeen) is a budding entrepreneur. He owns a tea shop in front of an IT Park in Kochi, and he dreams of building a multinational tea shop chain. He leaves no stone unturned to realise his ambition.

Thambi, Oommen’s younger brother, is a passionate football player. He aims to own a successful football team of children. The name of his football club is Thambi FC.

Their parents, Kuruvila (Johny Antony) and Shoshamma (Asha Madathil), are at loggerheads. Kuruvila spends money without thinking about the future.

He gets kicked out of the house by his wife when he loses money in a cryptocurrency fraud. He withdraws the money from their joint account to invest in cryptocurrency.

After being thrown out of his house, Kuruvila visits Oommen’s tea shop and stays with him. To Kuruvila’s surprise, Oomen asks his father to join his tea shop as an employee and also offers a salary.

The director narrates all these happenings in a lighter way to keep the audience engaged.

Shoshamma aspires to become a writer of thriller stories. But she faces hiccups in her efforts to attain her dream.

Thambi is exhausted as his dream of owning a football team hasn’t become a reality yet.

Meanwhile, Mariyam (Meenakshi) enters Thambi’s life. She is his school classmate and is interested in football too.

The movie also has a bunch of kids who are part of the football team. The whole story is about how the family overcomes their issues to become successful.

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Addresses key issues

Even though Tholvi FC belongs to a comical genre, the director made good efforts to speak about some burning issues.

For example, he addresses the issue of divorce and early marriage of women.

Meenakshi, a divorced woman, is vocal about how she isn’t given a choice to make her own decisions in her life.

In a scene, she tells Thambi that while he has been living his life on his own terms, she never got an opportunity to do the same. She also wonders why people feel sorry for her because she is divorced.

Another important issue that the film discusses is smartphone addiction among kids. A child character is duped via Instagram by a con man in the guise of a girl child. This gives an idea about how smartphones and the internet are influencing kids.

The movie also shows how parents, unaware of the consequences, give away smartphones to their children just to keep them engaged.

However, the central theme of Tholvi FC revolves around the dreams of the four-member family.

The relationship between Oommen and his father Kuruvila has reference to films like Ishtam (2001) where Dileep and Nedumudi Venu played father-son, and Jayaram-Innocent’s Manassinakkare (2003).

Treatment

Director George Kora manages to incorporate every aspect of the present era in the script.

Comedy and one-liners by Oommen, Thambi, Kuruvila, and their combination scenes work really well.

The name of their house is “Victory Hill”, but the family keeps struggling a lot. What an irony!

The songs by Vishnu Varma, Sijin Thomas, and Kartik Krishna are good and go with the feel-good mood of the film.

The end-credit song also is impressive.

The cinematography by Shyamprakash MS does justice to the plot.

The introduction of a robot-like machine at a crucial point in the movie is a smarter move by the filmmaker. This can be seriously followed by entrepreneurs.

The film discusses how today’s youngsters think and work, how they enjoy their lives and like to party hard.

Also Read: Suresh Gopi’s ‘Garudan’ has an intriguing plot to keep the audience engaged

Strong women characters

It’s heart-warming to see that Tholvi FC has strong women characters like Mariyam and Shoshamma who take their own stand.

Shoshamma asking her husband to leave the house is a change from the usual stereotypical way of narration. Asha Madathil as Shoshamma is noteworthy.

Meenakshi as Mariyam reflects the new-age women and their ambitions. The young actress plays her role with finesse.

Sharafudheen and Johny Antony’s combo takes the movie forward, and both actors are at their best in comedy scenes.

George Kora as Thambi delivers a decent performance.

Final take

Tholvi FC is a genuine and the most relatable movie that portrays how people from different generations struggle to pursue their passions.

(Views expressed here are personal.)