One Line Review: Phenomenal is the word.
YouTube Trailer Karnan
Starring: Dhanush, Lal, Rajisha Vijayan, Yogi Babu
Director: Mari Selvaraj
Release Date: 9th April 2021
What is the film about?
Karnan is a movie that has a lot of references to Mahabharata but deals with a plot where a man and his heroic acts to save his village from the clutches of discrimination and oppression.
“Karnan might seem like a familiar tale of the struggle between the oppressed and oppressor, but Mari Selvaraj’s detailing makes the film feel both unique and universal at the same time.”
~ Times of India
Our review for Karnan is 10/10.
Summary
Karnan, a young man who belongs to a village struck with poverty and suppression, decides to fight for their better future. The villagers are suppressed by the people of higher castes and are even denied the facility to have a bus stop for themselves leading the villagers to be forever dependant on them. Due to the aidance of people from Melur with the cops and politicians, Karnan’s villagers are given no chance of getting their fight for a bus stop turn fruitful. Things go wrong when an angry Karnan starts raising his voice against all the discrimination and oppression caused on his people.
Review
To start with, Mari Selvaraj is one hell of a filmmaker who knows how to make poetic and strong movies. His previous movie, his debut, Pariyerum Perumal received extremely good reviews from the critics and the audience because of the perfection and beauty he fills in his storytelling.
Karnan has a touch of magical realism and strong metaphorical shots that in a way provides multiple layers to the movie. Apart from the happenings in the movie, the story also makes the viewer thinks about the struggles and pain of the suppressed with deep-meaning visuals.
Multiple visuals appear onscreen during the movie at regular intervals that makes the viewers awestruck with perfection. Even donkeys, horses cats, dogs, pigs, and eagles have something to tell you when it comes to Mari’s film just like the dog in ‘Pariyerum Perumal’. It is like almost everything in his stories, even the static things are silently yelling at us to say something. Shots of Goddesses aka Kaatu Pechi, each and every time gave me goosebumps. This touch of Magical Realism was something fresh to watch throughout the movie. Santhosh Narayan’s composition was like the cherry on the cake. Everything was set in perfect ratio.
Performance
I wasn’t surprised to see Dhanush live as Karnan on screen. He has done it before, to bring a character to life like a perfectionist and he has done it again. The actor doesn’t even need dialogues in certain scenes to show what is going on in his mind. What an effortless actor! Along with Dhanush, Lal delivered an outstanding performance being ‘Yaman’, Karnan’s sidekick thatha. It was good seeing Yogi Babu in a character role and Rajisha Vijayan got a solid debut in Tamil via Karnan. Nutty was perfect for his role of being a nasty cop who tries to shower his vengeance on a bunch of helpless villagers.
Conclusion
Try to watch Karnan in theatres. The visuals will make you awestruck, the story is hard-hitting and the actors are mesmerizing. Mari Selvaraj succeeded in delivering a movie with top-notch quality elements filled in.
