Movie Review – Karnan (2021)

Touch too obvious

Karnan was heavy from the word go. The film shows the climax and only then carries on with the story. So, we know the eventual was going to happen and whether it was purposefully done or not I’m not sure but there was a sense of uneasiness throughout the film. Generally, when a climax is exposed, the film takes you through the happy phase and finally bring it to the moment, thus making it impactful but here, the mood was constant and quavers around uneasiness, waiting for something bad to happen, in the league of a horror film.

This kind of troupe where the climax gets exposed, or a main juncture is exposed has become a constant feature of B – grade action films or films which doesn’t take itself seriously because we get to know that the characters come out of the situation victoriously. So, to see it happening in this movie was surprising. Guess Mari Selvaraj didn’t find any tool apart from it to keep the audience in grip. In fact, he does too much for this film in the guise of making it artistic. Too many animals, too many motifs etc. If it comes naturally of course its fine but quite a few are strikingly on the face and gets annoying after a point.

In ‘Pariyerum Perumal’ the beauty was its feel goodness and naivety before the main strike but here, if not for the subject, it’s just a hero worship film. Just like how ‘Asuran’ was made. At least Asuran can be forgiven for its audacity because it can be termed as a commercial film eventually, even though it tries to be otherwise. Here in ‘Karnan’ it was not an outright commercial film, at points it feels like a docu drama and oscillates between fiction and reality, that’s why it was difficult as well as irritating to see all the focus on just one person. For Dhanush this would have been a piece of cake, he’s clever and gets such roles but he couldn’t exhibit dynamism like he did for ‘Aadukalam’ because he had such great scope in that film. Here it was unidimensional and if not for his presence it’d have been even poker-faced character.

As soon as I saw Lal’s name and seeing him allying with Karnan (Dhanush) I knew that he was going to die eventually so it was no surprise and couldn’t bring the impact it had to. Similarly, there was the donkey scene with a rope tied. It was quite evident the knot would be removed at an “important” juncture and so does it happen for the interval. Between these two supposedly impactful scenes, clash between the villages happen and the story becomes generic.

May be if the movie had been made by Bala, he’d have given a different treatment. If the film had been made in a ‘Sethu’ way, it’d have been way more impactful because there was a lot of scope for showing people happy. In ‘Pariyerum Perumal’ there would be a brief moment when “Pottakaatil poovasam” song appears. The love feel was one of the best in recent days. There would be clashes, violence etc. happening in the background but just like how anyone who are so madly in love, they’d be oblivious to the surroundings. That was beautiful. It pushes us too in that zone. The emotions worked perfectly for both happy and sad scenes there. Whereas in ‘Karnan’ we were waiting for violence to erupt, we were waiting for Karnan to strike. And we know that it was going to happen. The climax especially when he decides to return to fight, it was ‘meh’. Of course, it was going to happen. It was pretty much a Rajni film masked in this way.

Except for Lal others don’t get much scope. Must pity on Rajisha, just a brilliant actor. Probably for me, the takeaway from the film is Yogi Babu’s acting. First time I was seeing him in a serious role, and he nailed it. Dhanush’s sister Padmini (Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli) was good but would have been nice to get to know about her better. Overall, the film was hurried and tried to come to conclusion and close it off. The troupes, making and music, while trying to be different couldn’t give necessary impact and fringed only on shock value.

Movie Review – Sarpatta Parambarai

A rare, rooted sports drama

For some unknown reason I was never intrigued to watch the movie ever since its release. I was of the opinion, “what differently can be done in a sports drama?” Even though the boxing track was like how any boxing film would be, where you’ll rise from rags, go down a bit and again rise. Pa. Ranjith, the master that he is, the way he blends an almost never heard of boxing circle from yesteryear Madras, with a bit of politics infused as period flick, makes it an intriguing watch.

Unfortunately, due to ‘Raging Bull’, any other film feels meek. Such is its legacy. Plus ‘Raging Bull’ is like a complete package, a man’s journey through his boxing life. None can replicate what Scorsese does with a character and the beauty is almost, if not all, characters end up in a sorry miserable state. After all the highs we experience, it feels like you’re in death bed and the eventual is going to happen. I thought when Arya loses the match, the director would take the film in such a way, but unfortunately, he gets his six pack back in a song and wins the title.

I’m not against a character or the lead finally succeeding in a boxing film. But its much more than a sports/boxing film. The way the characters were build around the lead and the lead not standing out from the rest, rarely happens in such a movie. If Vikram had acted in one such movie, none of the characters would be visible. In a way, Arya’s not so dynamic screen space paves the way to make this a film which we can relate to. There were lot of emotional scenes which could have been better performed. In fact, Arya’s ‘Magamuni’ was better acted than this, one which he’s not known for. But the remaining characters, each one of them were gem. Everyone was highlighting Dancing Rose to have acted incredibly well, may be people were wooed by how his character was written. My favorite would be John Vijay. He was just brilliant as Daddy. In fact, it was superb selection to cast him in that role. Santhosh Prathap too fitted the role to the tee as an opposition sidekick. Wonder how Kalaiyarasan acts so well just in Pa. Ranjith’s film.

Wish Ranjith had taken another step closer to reality and had lean boxers, juts like the end credit shows. For some reason, may be because of the period setting and unfamiliar terrain, I was reminded of ‘Boogie Nights’. Of course, ‘Boogie Nights’ is just perfect, but this film gives that feel. Ranjith doesn’t explore much and get us into the world like ‘Subramaniapuram’ does, by far the best period film in Tamil, still it gives us a feel of an unfamiliar terrain, which was mostly brushed aside. If it had lean boxers and Kabilan (Arya) going down the dumps in the second half, it could have been a far greater movie than this. What a surprise it would have been if it was a first half sports film and second half personal film. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted him to become don and inspire the area but if he had gone down as an unidentified man and had got to live with it, it’d have been a far greater and impactful movie.

Love the way how Mariyamma (Dushara Vijayan) puts things into perspective in Kabilan’s head. About why losing is not such a big deal, how violence is of no use etc. Love the way how Ranjith’s female characters are always strong but not rebellious just for the sake of it. He does it so organically, as if its not a thing. Women don’t coy in Ranjith’s movie but that’s the point that he wants to highlight, it’s just the way he writes. Also, the anti-violence track was superbly handled. Arya looks the weakest when he’s bashing thugs, how beautiful isn’t it.

The film ends in a positive way with everyone uniting. That was done wonderfully as well as organically too. Even though his wife hates him when he’s a goon, it’s not that she always shouts, she smiles when she gets gold. Same with his friend Vetri (Kalaiyarasan), in fact that’s the best character written. He oscillates here and there. He wants to use Kabilan to become big and go against his dad Rangan (Pasupathy) and at the same time doesn’t want to lose Kabilan too. It was a beautifully written love hate relationship. We all have one such friend like him. Even though the film ends up in predictable lines, it does guarantee for a compelling watch.

Movie Review – Mahaan

A pulverizing anti message film

For a Vikram film, which was preposterously titled ‘Mahaan’, this happened to be a quickie. With the first single of the movie too not creating much hype and falling under regular troupe of Santhosh Narayanan’s latest outings, it looked like it was going to be the same old story of any Vikram movie but the real attention started with the teasers and trailers where the film felt appealing. But the puzzle solved itself only after watching the movie. In fact the whole setup was to make audience think of something else and come up with something wholly different.

There is a short, not so appealing flashback at the start with three kids involving in a game of cards. It happens so quick that we don’t get a grasp of it. One of the kid Gandhi Mahaan, ends up to be the forty year old Vikram in the next scene, who has to abide by the rules his family, society has framed/set for him. It was a pleasure to watch Vikram do such a subtle under performance in the beginning but it doesn’t last long as he gets a free license for a day. His wife Nachi (an amazing Simran) and his kid Dadabhai Naoroji leave him because of the incident. From that point to interval it was just a pleasure watching Vikram on screen. Time and again he shows what an actor he is. He is a straight out Hollywood material who could match up with the likes of Al Pacino and De Niro in a Scorsese gangster flick.

The three friends unite together at most interesting points. In fact any character who appears for a scene, reunites at superb juncture. Sathya (Bobby Simha) at gambling, Gnanam (Vettai Muthukumar) when they plan to get a seemingly impossible license for their drink and Manikkam (Ramachandran) at his lone birthday party. In fact its Manikkam’s words which makes a seemingly innocent Gandhi turn into Mahaan. Isn’t it just apt that Gandhi thinks of only Manikkam during his birthday? And the chemistry between all of them with Vikram was fabulous. None looked like lesser known actors. It was great to see so much comfort level on screen.

It was good to see Karthik Subbaraj trying to come out of comfort zone. He could have easily done a normal gangster movie with Vikram and could have gotten away with it as a runaway hit but the path he takes in second half and establishes a lead actor without questioning his morality was brilliant. Pro Gandhian, Pro Alcohol or pro or anti of anything is not easy to establish. But he does it with élan. The scene where Dada (Dhruv) refuses to drink alcohol was such a lively scene. It could have been easily laughed at. If it had been laughed at, the film would have been a failure. Only because the emotions of it could be understood, it makes for a compelling watch.

Karthik had tried to do something different with ‘Iraivi’ and ‘Jagame Thandhiram’ but couldn’t. With ‘Iraivi’ it got too personal and self-righteous and with ‘Jagame Thandhiram’ it got too hollywoodish, so much so that it looked plasticky. But with Mahaan he held his ground even though he had not aced it. There were few brilliant scenes where the emotions were stripped off, like, every time Vikram thinks of family, it doesn’t happen for more than a couple of seconds, he laughs it off with his peers dismissing that his past life was nothing but crap. (Something like Ranbir brushing of Deepika rejecting her proposal in ‘Tamasha’ but that was not as subtle as ‘Mahaan’) Karthik could have easily made those scenes a cry fest and made us empathize with Vikram. But he doesn’t, and that’s the beauty. In one of the scenes he so effortlessly dismisses his wife Nachi from his life. He says something like, “avala epovo thooki potachu, payana than maraka mudila”. It’s so cruel a scene which I’m afraid whether other actors would have done it but it happens so effortlessly in the movie.

Climax is where the entire villainess of Gandhi comes to fore. It was a treat to watch Vikram in full flow. Like my friend commented, Vikram gave an audition for ‘Marudhanayagam’ with his ‘Hey Ram’ caricature. Dhruv who was trying so hard to match with Vikram in the face off scenes had to succumb completely in the climax. In fact he obeying his dad in film felt more real than the remaining scenes. Gandhi calling him a puppy in the call to Gnanam was probably the cruelest scene of the movie. May be the people who couldn’t connect with the movie citing that they couldn’t understand the emotions were actually the ones who couldn’t digest the fact that the lead needn’t always have to be a morally correct person.

The length of the film felt justified. May be it could have explored more about Dada and the flashback sequences. The actors, especially the trio of Vikram, Bobby Simha and Vettai Muthukumar were terrific. Even Sananth as Rocky was brilliant. In fact everyone were, except for Dhruv. May be it’s a miscasting. He was not bad, in fact a lot better than I expected but he was forced with a herculean task to match up with Vikram. Karthik or may be Vikram wanted the character to be macho and tried to add a lot of cool factors like Vikram’s previous mannerisms and dialogues but it was a total put off. May be a cop who hardly talks and generally broody in nature would have appealed more.

Overall it was a superb movie with Vikram and it was like showing the next generation what he’s capable of. People who are newly discovering him (thanks to a series of flops) would have been wondering why was he not in limelight all through the years.

Movie Review – Oththa Seruppu Size 7

Self-righteous exercise which passes the cut

Thanks to Parthiepan’s pretentious ways of making movie where he aims for the sky but bites the dust, I was safely avoiding ‘Oththa Seruppu’ all this while. ‘Oththa Seruppu’ has all the ingredients of being a typical Parthiepan movie, highly self-righteous, visibly ‘innovative’ storytelling and a title with pun. But seeing few non Tamilians watch the movie and laud it, I thought of giving it a try. Even though the exercise looks a tad tedious it was definitely not boring. The whole film looked like an extension of his speech, which is good to hear on stage but as a film is that enough… that’s the question to be asked.

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His main intention of making a movie is to try something new. Here he tries to be the only person in the film. Highly ambitious but that’s how Parthiepan is. His dialogues are witty and that’s the biggest advantage he has. He works the whole film through it. His storytelling is nothing but literal here because he literally tells the story through his own words. Just like the way he makes speeches, there are enough allegories, enough twists in the stories which keep us interested to know what the story is.

As a film there isn’t much one could grasp. But we give the benefit of doubt to Parthiepan because we know how tough it is to make a movie with this idea. But is that enough to make one watch a film. I’ll leave that to the viewers. Viewers have been affirmative with the idea too. Even though it’s a single actor film, we hear the voices of other people. Only that we don’t see them. The camera moves like a first person too when one talks over phone, talks to each other etc. which was a technique I hated. It felt like a cheating. It’s not a one-person film if you can hear other voices. It’s intentionally kept that way so that the other person would not be visible. In fact, the voices without faces was irritating.

Having said all that, Parthiepan still keeps us interested. May be because the story is like that, of love and creed. It’s something which everyone would be interested to hear. His acting too was nothing special. I’ve always been skeptical of his acting in the movies he directs. He’s a great actor in other directors’ movies. He was brilliant in ‘Naanum Rowdy Than’ and he looks brilliant in few glimpses of ‘Dhruva Natchathiram’ but when it comes to his directional features, he terribly overdoes it. Movies like ‘Kudaikul Mazhai’ and ‘Pachchak Kuthira’ were tedious to watch.

There is not much Parthiepan could have done with respect to this movie. He has taken it in his style. But what I’d have liked to see would be a depressing tale of a loner, something like a Haneke movie. If it’s a single actor movie, loneliness and depression is a great theme to handle. There could have been a lot of long shots, interesting yet mundane activities, pathos etc. and techniques like hand held camera and fast paced editing could have been duly avoided. That could have given time to settle for everyone and get absorbed in the movie.