Thamma Review: Too Many Fangs, Too Many Hisses, and a Missing Plotline

Thamma Review: Ayushmann Khurrana’s Alok Goyal gets attacked by a bear in a forest, and before you can say “oh no”, his life is saved by Tadaka (Rashmika Mandanna). From there, he stumbles into the mysterious world of betaals/vampires who, in a shocking twist, have chosen not to drink human blood. Tadaka, being the rebellious one (and in love already????), breaks the rules, rescues Alok, and ventures into the human world. What follows is how Alok slowly becomes one of them, and the duo team up to fight Thamma (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), the cruel and evil leader of the Betaal community.

Screenplay, Performances and More

Thamma is the fifth movie in the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe (MHCU) after Stree, Bhediya, Munjya, and Stree 2. For director Aditya Sarpotdar, it’s his second outing in the universe after he gave us the very enjoyable Munjya. Expectations were naturally high. Unfortunately, the 2025 film falls right into the pit of disappointment.

If you asked me to describe the plot of Thamma, I’d say it’s full of too many teeth and too many hisses. It genuinely feels like the makers wanted to make a movie entirely out of people hissing, but reluctantly added dialogue and a vague storyline so audiences could somewhat follow along. Sadly, even that didn’t help.

While watching Thamma, my brain went on a question spree: Why is Alok Goyal, a journalist, so dumb that he’s completely mesmerised by Tadaka’s beauty to the point he doesn’t notice she’s, well, not human? Why is everyone hissing like they’re auditioning for a snake documentary? Why is Paresh Rawal’s character asking his son to prove he’s his son by showing him a mole instead of just celebrating that his son isn’t dead? Why does Tadaka, who was starving enough to almost eat a dog, never actually eats anything in the movie? Why is everyone acting like they’re in a high school play? Why are the jokes so painfully unfunny? Where are the actual vampires? What horrible brief was given to Nawazuddin Siddiqui that made him act like that?

And, most importantly: why and how did I sit through this entire movie? Even after 70 minutes of absolutely nothing happening, I stayed. I waited. Maybe there’s Maddock Magic somewhere in the end? Will the Hand of God emerge from the screen and shake me awake so I don’t doze off in the cosy cinema hall? Is the audience dead? Why is nobody laughing? Wait, there’s an item song. And another item song. And, of course, the end credits? You guessed it right.. yet another dance number. So was the film just about hisses and moving hips?

Aditya Sarpotdar’s Thamma offered nothing: neither as a standalone movie nor as a contribution to the MHCU. The Bhediya cameo felt like a last-minute homework submission, shoved in just to make sure the universes are the same. The plot refused to move, much like the audience in their seats. The makers even seemed to forget that Nawaz was supposed to be the villain, because he vanishes for a long stretch before popping up in the climax as if he just remembered he has a mission. We don’t know what that mission was; no one cared to tell us!

What’s truly worrying is how confidently filmmakers now use meme references as jokes, and yet can’t squeeze a single laugh out of the audience.

One of the strongest aspects of the MHCU has always been its characters: memorable, layered, and often hilarious. Thamma, however, fumbles hard. Especially with its villain. I recently watched the Malayalam movie Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra, another vampire story. Without even flashing fangs every two minutes, Chandra made you feel the difference between humans and vampires. You were drawn into her world. But in Thamma, you never feel that pull. The betaals are treated like a poor punchline, not a story element.

Thamma Review: Final Thoughts

With Thamma, Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films even unveiled the shiny new MHCU logo. But ironically, it seems they forgot to add both horror and comedy to the movie.