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.