The Nobel Prize for Literature
for the previous two years were announced on Thursday & as expected there
was a huge furore over the choice of Peter Handke. His insensitive statements
about the Serbian massacre of 1995 & apologist leaning towards Milosevic,
the perpetrator of the genocide made him a rather infamous personality among
the masses. However, his influence in contemporary fiction was undeniable &
just like his fellow Nobel laureate, Olga Tokarczuk he has also written scripts
& screenplay for movies. This just emphasizes the point that the
contribution of novelists is immense in the film industry & even
Vetrimaaran’s latest venture “Asuran” is based on the novel ‘Vekkai’ by Sahitya
Academy winner Poomani. Strangely the movie had a rather low keel release as I
barely came across much talk about it even in media. Though I didn’t even watch
the trailer, I was more than eager to check it out after all the
Vetrimaaran-Dhanush duo has always weaved magic.
Set in the 1980s in Kovilpatti,
Sivasami (Dhanush) is a farmer on the run with his son Chidambaram (Ken Karunas)
after the latter had killed Narasimhan (Aadukalam Naren), an influential
landlord. It all began with Narasimhan who belongs to an upper caste tries to
acquire their land adjoining his property to setup a cement factory. This
essentially leads to a scuffle between the families & when Sivasami tries
to pacify the situation with the help of the panchayat, he gets humiliated.
Infuriated with the manner his father was treated, Murugan (Teejay Arunasalam) decides
to teach Narasimhan a lesson. But little did anyone realize that it was going
to change all their lives forever.
As in the past, Ventrimaaran
treats the audience with a compelling drama which is crafted exquisitely &
supported by a solid cast. He gives us an ample view as to how the poor struggle
to hold onto their piece of land which is worsened further with the caste
system in play. But the icing on the cake was when Sivasami advises his son about
the power of education stating that though the powerful might be able to snatch
their land and money, education will always reign supreme. As always,
Vetrimaaran has nailed it when it came to the cast as each & every artists
seemed perfect for the role they portrayed. G.V Prakash also deserves praise
for the impactful BGM while Velraj’s visuals captures the rustic terrain &
the night scenes exquisitely.
Whenever Dhanush has collaborated
with Vetrimaaran, he has given a thumping performance & it’s no different this
time as well. His restrained act as the frail middle aged individual in his appearance,
gait & mannerisms was impressive. Manju Warrier is an artist par excellence
& she proved it yet again in what was a perfect Tamil debut for her. Her
portrayal of Pachaiyammal, kinda reminded me of her Bhanu in “Kanmadam”. Both Ken & Teejay were
excellent & the rest of the cast have also done their parts impressively.
Verdict: With a favourable word of mouth, the movie has grossed
close to 30 C in the Tamil Nadu box
office which is Dhanush’s career best as far as first week collections are
concerned. It is the quickest Vetrimaaran movie to date, but you can rest
assured that the quality still hasn’t deteriorated though it might not appear
as content heavy as some of his previous ones. I presume that might be coz he
stuck with the novel as close as possible. Anywaz don’t hesitate to watch
this!!!
Rating: 3.5/5
Regards…Ben
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