Thandel, directed by Chandoo Mondeti, is inspired by a true story where Indian fishermen were captured by the Pakistani authorities around April 2021 and taken into custody. Apart from the above-mentioned fact, the director has taken some creative liberties and weaved fictional love stories around the narrative. So let’s find out how Raju and his men got caught by the authorities, how Sathya, his love, fought for his release, and if the two lovers ended up together again.
Spoiler Alert
How did Raju become Thandel?
Raju, a fisherman from Matchilesam, had learned the tricks of the trade from his father. His father was a Thandel, i.e., the leader and the protector of the fishermen, and a well-respected man. Raju worshiped the sea, as he knew that for years it had given them means to survive and thrive. Raju spent 9 months at sea as he and his men went near a port in Gujarat for fishing. Raju was in love with a girl named Sathya, and he knew that one day, when the time was right, he would get married to her. Sathya loved the kind of man Raju was, and she had no doubts in her mind that he was the one she wanted to spend her entire life with. One time Raju got to know that the mining mafia had once again taken over the coast in a nearby village, and even after they were told of the consequences it could entail, they had no plans of stopping. Actually, back in the day, due to mining operations, the entire coastal area had gotten submerged under the water, and Raju didn’t want anything like that to happen once again. He went and talked to the miners, and it didn’t take much time for him to realize that they were not going to listen to him. So Raju showed them what he was capable of and forced them to immediately call off their operation. After that incident, the Thandel decided that it was about time he passed the baton to Raju and made him the leader of the fishermen. Raju accepted the offer, and he promised to protect the rights of the fisherman, to look after their well-being, and to stand alongside them till his last breath.
How did Raju get caught by the Pakistani Navy?
Things were going well between Sathya and Raju, but then one day the former got to know about a tragedy that had occurred with a fisherman, and after that day a fear rose in her, and she just couldn’t get over it. Also, Sathya’s father told her how he was at sea when his wife, Sathya’s mother, had passed away. Sathya’s father told her that the regret of not being able to meet his wife one last time haunted him. His words made Sathya realize that she needed to address her fears and ask Raju to change his line of work and not leave.
She wanted to tell Raju to quit his job and not go out to sea, but she didn’t know how to initiate that conversation. Sathya waited for 3 months, and the day before Raju was supposed to leave, she made him privy to her fears. Raju didn’t understand what happened to Sathya all of a sudden, and he tried to make her understand that it was all in her mind. But Sathya couldn’t get over her insecurities and her fear. She told Raju that if he left her this time, she would not talk to him again and marry somebody else. Raju at first gave in, but then when she fell asleep, he quietly got up and left. The moment Sathya got up and couldn’t find Raju, she went running to the railway station, and she literally begged Raju not to leave. Raju was in a difficult position; he couldn’t leave his own men and run away from his responsibilities as a Thandel, and at the same time, he didn’t want to break Sathya’s heart too. Raju chose to leave, though he hadn’t imagined Sathya would actually leave him for good, or even entertain that idea. But Sathya got so enraged and disappointed that she asked her father to find her a groom as soon as possible. Sathya agreed to get married to the first guy who came to see her. Sathya was a righteous woman, and she didn’t want to keep that guy, Murali, in the dark. So she went to him and told him everything about Raju. She also told him that she would marry him the day Raju came back, after she confronted him face to face. Murali, who was mesmerized by Sathya’s strong personality, agreed to her demands.
Meanwhile, Raju’s boat got struck in a storm, and before they realized it, they had crossed international borders and reached Pakistan, where they were immediately taken into custody by the navy and thrown into a prison in Karachi. The families of the fishermen back home were devastated after learning the news. Sathya too didn’t know what to do next. She hadn’t even talked to Raju properly when she got the chance, and now she felt guilty for behaving as she had. But Sathya had promised Murali that she would marry him, and she knew that even if she wanted to, she couldn’t betray his trust.
How did the abolishment of Article 370 impact the fishermen’s release?
The Indian fishermen faced hell in the Pakistani prison. They were bullied by the local terrorist Rakim bhai, who just wanted to see each and every Indian suffer. Rakim and his men were so heartless and evil that they tortured the youngest member of the Indian crew, Kittu, and circumcised him when no one was around. Raju and the other fishermen found Kittu writhing in pain, and they took him to the in-house medical facility immediately. The jail superintendent, Fahad Mustafa, came to the rescue of the Indian fishermen, and many times he saved them from the likes of Rakim and others. But the Pakistani authorities showed no signs they’d be releasing the fishermen, and that’s when Sathya decided to take charge of things. Firstly, she went to the Gujarati boss for whom Raju and his men worked and asked him to clear off the due payment for the last 9 months. The families of the fishermen were suffering, and Sathya wanted to do something for them. The boss firstly disrespected Sathya and shooed her off, but then he realized that she would become a headache for him if he didn’t give her the due payment. After that small victory, Sathya was able to grab the attention of Minister Suhsila Swaraj, who promised that she would do everything in her power to get the fishermen released. After the efforts put in by the Indian minister, the Pakistani government decided to release the fishermen on India’s Independence Day. But then Article 370, which gave a special status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, was abolished, and as a result, the order of the release of the Indian fishermen was revoked indefinitely.
Rakim bhai didn’t make Raju’s life easier, and once again he targeted the fishermen by disrespecting their nation on Independence Day. Rakim asked his men to urinate on the sketch of the Indian map made on the wall. The young boy Kittu couldn’t stand to see that, and so he hoisted the Indian flag in the Pakistani prison. To save Kittu, Raju got into a fight with Rakim and his men, and after that, he was put into solitary confinement for many days.
Did Sathya and Raju end up together?
Due to Minister Sushila Swaraj’s untimely demise, Sathya didn’t know who to ask for help. That’s when somebody told her that the minister’s daughter could help her cause.
In Thandel’s ending, we saw that Sathya went to Delhi to request Sushila Swaraj’s daughter to help their cause. After Sathya waited outside her office for several days, the minister finally called her inside and had a chat with her. Sushila Swaraj’s daughter realized that she needed to finish what her mother had started and bring the fishermen back home. Finally, the Pakistani authorities decided to release Raju and his men, and the villagers back home had already started making preparations to welcome them. Sathya had sent her wedding card to Raju, but the latter’s colleagues did not deem it fit to show it to him in the prison. They thought that when they were released and Raju could actually do something about it, only then they would tell him about it. On the day of the release, 21 fishermen were released, but the release of one of them was not sanctioned, since he didn’t have proper documents on him to prove his identity. When Raju decided to stay back with his colleague and wait for his documents to be arranged, others informed him about Sathya’s wedding and how important it was for him to reach home that very day. Raju felt as if somebody had stopped his breath. He didn’t know how Sathya could do that to him. But then he remembered what his father had told him about his duties as a Thandel. Raju decided to stay back and left everything else up to fate. The release of Lachi, the fisherman without documents, was finally sanctioned, and Raju came back home with everybody else.
Up until that time, what Sathya didn’t know was that her fiancé, Murali, had realized the kind of love she had for Raju. He knew that, in that lifetime, he wouldn’t be able to make Sathya love anybody else. So firstly he booked Raju’s flight ticket so that the latter could reach the village before their wedding, and then he revealed to Sathya and her entire family that this had been his plan for a long time. Sathya couldn’t thank Murali enough. She ran to meet Raju, and the two lovers couldn’t help but express their love for each other. Raju and Sathya ended up together, and in the end, their love survived the test of time.
