This is my first Tamil movie in terms of serious viewing. So forgive me if I miss tropes or subtleties.
SPOILERS ALERT.
"Mariyaan"
Bharat Bala made a movie named "Hari Om" in 2004, full length feature film in English about self discovery associated adventures of a french woman in India. It was, to my surprise, star studded (A. K. Hangal and Vijay Raj are stars for me). But we do not care much about movies that far off from mainstream cinema.
Mariyaan, the man who never dies; more rooted in the sense of ever-living spirit of man.
Soundtrack is composed by A. R. Rahman. Need I tell you to immediately procure it and listen to it over and over again? Marc Koninckx, a Belgian cinematographer, has carved such beautiful frames that would melt you in the aura of it. Dhanush plays our simple faced, charismatic lead boy Mariyaan, a role that most suits his personality. Parvathy plays Pani, a doe-eyed beauty raised among fishermen who is amorous right from the childhood, obviously, for the charismatic lead.
Mariyaan is knighted as "Kadal Raasa" (King of the Sea), a reasonable title, as he kills spotted whale sharks with a mere single-headed, hook-nosed spear. Impressive. The ziddi protagonist comes to Parvathy in the epilogue of a stretched drama about the sea being his only mistress, after Yesupadam, Parvathy's father, inadvertently and unknowingly talks some sense into him. But he is thrust into a different world because of Yesupadam's debt to a man ("dark man", to be literal) who lusts after his daughter (Pani, the bold princess). Punching him does not solve the problem, apparently; it does temporarily avert his sexual predator instincts. Obviously, in an Indian village, nobody reports that to the police. Yesupadam owes a lot of money to this "dark man", going by the thick wad they pay him back with, without improving their standard of living. It should be noted that the money lent to Yesupadam is most likely through a non-institutional route, rendering it valid only in the societal context.
Despite being able to kick multiple asses simultaneously, the protagonist decides to take the high road, to pay back a non-institutional loan given by a rapist and arsonist. He takes the huge sum of money paid in advance for being cast as an approximately bonded labor somewhere in Sudan. A lot of time is spent on the silent/musical lovelorn phone conversations of the duo. Parvathy's job is to look beautiful, which she without a doubt excels at. But that is how the story goes.
The protagonist, on his way back, is captured by Darfuri rebels. The director has touched a painful nerve of Sudan that is very foreign to Indian populace. Yet, he fails to capture the plight of Darfuri people, projecting the rebels as 1-D villains made only of violence, lust and revenge. No purposefulness of an adult terrorist, no wisdom of a rebel fighting with lack of resources, no teen angst driving radicalism.... nothing. Just violent black boxes dancing and twerking forever to "afrika, afrika", firing away valuable bullets towards the sky, only to conform to the prevalent racist stereotypes ascribed to Afrikaans in Indian society. I am not a supporter of perpetually activist art, or of humanizing the foolish trigger happy bastards. But sometimes, you get a rare opportunity to be brave, to make a statement. A good film could take that without compromising the art, enhancing it even. You get an interesting villain, better opportunity for creativity in dialogue writing. Lastly, the glory of Kadal Raasa is already set up. No need of black box characters!
Anyways, coming to the performances: Dhanush portrays Mariyaan in a very convincing and surreal way. Playing in contrast to the beautifully expressed backdrops, the close-ups of his face emanate haunting emotions of fear, shock, despair and perseverance. The chemistry of the lead duo is very heartening and is consummated in the first act by a short but beautiful kiss (to the chagrin of the poor, possessive mother of Kadal Raasa). Both the [dark?] villains are sufficiently evil and appallingly non-human. Sidekicks (the matchmaker, the north Indian, the recently acquired langotiya yaar) are genuinely funny and humane. Locations are judiciously chosen and used in a very realistic way. The cheetah hallucination is a good touch and enhances the effect of Dhanush's acting. I personally enjoyed the humble movie-making process shots at the end.
There is a lot of potential to be unlocked here. Our (my?) hopes are on stand-by. Overall, it is an enjoyable lightweight movie that could use a little less of self-admiration and a little more of character development (or character unraveling at least).
