2018, Tamil, Disney Hotstar, 8.5/10 IMDB, Directed by Vetrimaran
Log book of events on destiny of a youngster to become a humble saviour of North madras, documented too raw, that after the movie we feel like walking out of prison ourselves, making vetrimaran a winner?
A much hyped movie for it being an epic, is sure going to fall prey to tough scanner and criticism. The director got carried away, way too much that we end up being uncertain at times with how he wants us to emote, as his choice of real life characters are shown in the real creepy world of the underprivileged.
Vetrimaran’s screenplay with permutations and combinations of characters, juggled between different time period does fatigue you with equally confusing array of similar faced and accented characters each with a distinct name. It’s like preparing for a history exam to remember the characters, what they were upto in that particular time period, how their looks change back and forth (detailed to infer how with age they have become either pious or arrogant). Appreciation goes out for the subtle detailing that fits apt for the realism the movie tries to capture.
Danush’s versatility has been too frequently explored in his previous flicks that every change in his look is not new to you. He reminds of the Myanmar youngster character of ‘Anegan’ and ‘3’, the dense beard character from ‘Kodi’ and by now we are way too familiar with his acting and dialogue delivery in similar backdrops. There are few exceptional expressions that only he could culminate with a flair.
Aishwarya Rajesh is introduced by mouthing bold swears that’s surprisingly new to our ears paired with an applause echo from the audience. It goes for all characters as they inevitably speak the local language and the crowd keeps funnily cheering up everytime a character mouths a swear.
Ameer is the ‘ Padagotti’ MGR of the harbour slum and he does convince you with his compelling performance and complexion. He is the prototype that Danush is revealed to replicate later on, and the transformations are done in real time effect that we start seeing the movie as another history lesson and we start making notes for part 2 of the trilogy.
Andrea is an unexpected choice for such a game changing character, but she proves us wrong with her dreamy eyes when around Ameer and the apparent depth in the same eyes while in revenge, emoted as plainly as in real life scenario without mixing an ounce of cinematic layer.
Samuthrakani does convince you that he can show versatility. Daniel Balaji doesn’t creat much of an impact. Kishore scores better but not his best.
The cinematographer Aadukalam’s Velraj does what he is good at in bringing the reality check in all frames with his creepy lighting.
Santhosh Narayanan’s music remains under utilised even in the BGM, as the story’s complexity stands tall putting everything under the radar, gracefully down.