2023, Tamil, 8.4/10 IMDB, Directed by Kathik Subbaraj
The ace narrator’s un-compromised screenplay, echoes his passion for art and his angst against the party politics behind tribal plundering. In an apparent ‘prequel’ of the 2014 Jigarthanda, the Director Karthik Subbaraj attempts to walk a similar path, and succeeds. The monotony is neutralized as the movie explores the director’s personal experience on ‘How Art Chose Him’.
Jigarthanda’s template of ‘Art’ convincing an ‘Offender’ to change his ways, is widely the template in Double X as well. The director unveils multiple layers of the story one after the other. The illustrations of how destiny pulls people in to the ‘world of art’ making them creators and performers, is a striking parallel to the Director’s real life experience of becoming a director himself, and this makes Double X even more special.
The Director, holds the viewers by their hands and walks them into the world of his well-rounded characters, establishing his premise in a steady pace. He then slowly makes the audience emotionally hooked to the characters, through his seamless narrative skills. It is as magical as our granny stories, which would start off simple, but end up mending us, by emphasizing on ethical and moral high grounds.
The director establishes his characters and their complex back story with no hurry whatsoever. The intersection of the two pivotal character arcs are placed with a backdrop of a gangster turned actor, auditioning directors for his debut venture. It is a striking parallel to the ‘competitive show’ for aspiring directors, ‘Nalaya Iyakkunar’, (meaning ‘Tomorrow’s Director’s) through which Karthik Subbaraj identified himself as a director to the world of art.
The ‘meta’ narrative – ‘cinema about cinema’, is an interesting premise, similar to that of Jigarthanda, but this is meta, in more than one way.
- Actor Clint Eastwood while shooting for his film, in a tribal village in Madurai, supposedly names the young hero Alliyan as Alliyus Ceaser. He also gifts Alliyus, a 8mm camera, which Alliyus believes to be a gun (a metaphoric weapon).
- The director subtly substitutes the slogan, ‘Pen is mightier than sword’ of the 90’s Tamil movies with ‘Cinema, is the most powerful weapon’.
- The name of the cinema hall, ‘Kilities’s talkies’ (a colloquial Tamil word to mock someone as ‘the all-knowing’), interestingly rhymes Clint Eastwood’s name, when pronounced in a local Tamil dialect.
- The cinema hall, only screens Clint Eastwood’s movies, for Allius Ceaser’s private watch, where he plots all his major executions.
- Alliyus’s dark complexion is mocked as unfit for silver screen but the then dark-skinned debut of actor Rajinikanth is called out, saying it is rumoured that Rajini is going to make it big in Tamil industry.
The movie is high on ‘meta’, in gestures, dialogues and even majority of the plot points are driven by it. For instance, rewriting the purpose of the hero’s life, so it could be captured as an interesting second half in his biopic movie.
Apart from interestingly written character arcs of individuals, the director uses detailed narration to untangle the plot knots in a decisive pattern, to settle issues and arrive at a definite result. The prime characters are established with an elaborate backdrop. The two protagonists, Alliyus and Kiruban played by Ragava Lawrence and S J Surya respectively, are backed by detailed visual stories. This enables the viewers to set foot into their worlds, and when the two characters meet, the viewers are amply acquainted with their purpose of life. Hence, the director’s intention transpires beautifully onscreen.
Nimisha Sajayan, plays a strong character, Malaiarasi, who is in fact the voice of the director. She is the first voice to reiterate the director’s vision onscreen, by portraying ‘cinema’ as a ‘weapon’, if used wisely. Her bold performance, does justice to the powerful writing.
Sub plots are many, but they all effectively converge to become the ‘sole purpose’ of the narration. Karthik Subbaraj’s previous works are known for luring the audience, as to who the real antagonist is, what the primary hostility is, from where it all starts or contrarily, where it all ends. In Double X, Karthik captivates the audience, by giving the spiteful elephant poacher angle, a political game’s distortion.
Critically acclaimed tribal plundering scripts are many, few of which were the well-received kind like ‘Kantara’ and few other beautifully made works like, ‘Thaen’, which had gone sadly unnoticed. But Karthik’s meta world, lights the premise vibrantly.
Karthik duly hooks the audience, playing the well-crafted screenplay, to his strength. He spins it seamlessly in the right direction, tooling it to convey his true emotion as a film maker. The emotions that he tried conveying in ‘Iraivi’ and ‘Jigarthanda’, extends in Double X. Music Director Santhosh Narayanan and Cinematographer Tirru adds energy and excitement to the narration, in the process, elevates the movie watching experience. The rustic lighting, the camera movements capturing the face-offs of the two heroes and the poaching sequences with the spirit of the revenging elephant in the backdrop, encapsulates the director’s thoughts, through intricate visual compositions.
Mimicking the soul of Jigarthanda, in Double X, works poetically. The director personifies ‘ART’ as the ‘hero’ of his screenplay, and exhibits adequate on-screen mass moments to the art form- ‘CINEMA’. The film fraternity’s nostalgia is sure to make the Director’s work an inevitable chapter, in the history of Tamil cinema. Even though the excitement of witnessing a novel premise, like the experience of watching Jigarthanda in the year 2014, is missing, Double X manages to remain a ‘tribute-worthy’ prequel.