Maveeran Kittu Tamil Movie

Feature Film | 2016 | U | Drama
Critics:
Suseenthiran has found himself in an awkward situation where he had to cater to the masses and yet deliver a hard-hitting message and has tried to grapple with a mediocrely written script by Yugabharathi, that fails the director. The narrative could have been crisper and much more engaging without unwanted songs and interesting turn of events.
Dec 3, 2016 By Baranidharan S


Director Suseenthiran who is known to present a social theme with a proper commercial blend has once again taken a theme that is as old as the hills - the caste system in rural Tamil Nadu, its consequences on the innocent people and the foreseeable solution. The title sounded quite revolutionary. I was hoping that the movie would host a disclaimer to some dalit leader whose life has inspired for the making of this. There was none. So it's not an autobiography and strictly panders to the dramatic fantasies of the director to weave a plot. But the big question was whether the drama was dramatic enough?


Set in the 80's in the southern part of rural Tamil Nadu, the movie dissects the ironic episodes of the people belonging to the lower strata of the society and the treatment meted out to them by the upper caste. They are being led by Chinnarasu (Parthiban), who time and again voices his protest against racial discrimination. Then the obvious thing happens - an affair between the upper caste girl, Gomathi (Sri Divya) and the lower caste boy, Kittu (Vishnu). Did they unite?


Caste has always been a point of contention in almost all Suseenthiran movies starting from his debut, Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu. When keenly noted, the point of conflict in all his previous screenplays occurs because of caste - might be a result of some deep childhood scars. Now that he has dedicated an entire movie to this theme but sadly the treatment and presentation were flat throughout. There was hardly anything interesting with respect to the screenplay. Take for instance a scene where Chinnarasu challenges the upper caste inspector that he would pay for his misdemeanor at some point with folded hands in front of him, and that situation occurs later in the movie. In fact, it was forced into the screenplay, where the inspector could have just brushed it off - it was so amateurishly handled. I was hoping that Suseenthiran would have imbibed his touch, though this movie speaks to this issue for the nth time in Kollywood. After all, he made a refreshing presentation of romance with Aadhalaal Kaadhal Seiveer, a movie that handled another cliched social issue but made us see through a different lens. The 80s ethos alone couldn't do much in terms of presentation but the content had to be strong enough, otherwise, we would just end up seeing men walking with bad wigs, bell bottoms, square frames and mild Ilayaraja tunes in the background.


For Vishnu, this is his third collaboration with the director. As an actor, I don't think he has made any notable improvements in terms of his performance or role selection. Everything remains the same, except that he is seen for the second time in a vintage look after Mundasupatti. The same applies for Sri Divya as well. Parthiban has got a meaty role. In fact, he should be named as the leading man of this script, except that he doesn't get 3 duets in a span of 2 hours, but has been utilized to do all the heavy lifting in the story.


Suseenthiran has found himself in an awkward situation where he had to cater to the masses and yet deliver a hard-hitting message and has tried to grapple with a mediocrely written script by Yugabharathi, that fails the director. The narrative could have been crisper and much more engaging without unwanted songs and interesting turn of events. Why should this theme be set in the 80s, even today this issue would be relevant? For Suseenthiran's potential, this is a letdown!

Baranidharan S

   

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