Maari 2 Tamil Movie
Maari-2 for Dhanush is like a free hit ball for a batsman in limited overs cricket. There is a minimum guarantee associated with that delivery, wherein a batsman has to try hard to get himself run out or on the flip side could score a boundary. On predictable lines, the batsman (Dhanush) swung hard (songs, fights, punches, you name the masala you want, and Maari-2 delivers) at the delivery that was bowled towards him, only to see his stumps shattered behind (story, screenplay, performances were best left unsaid). However, it hardly affected either of the teams, and the game goes on with the next delivery.
The first part of the movie that was released in 2015 had a refreshing appeal, and its trailer was one of the best for that year. However, the film fell much below expectations but Dhanush's portrayal of Maari and the shades of grey that he sported reached out widely among the masses. Anirudh's music also contributed hugely to that success as well.
Maari-2 plucks off the core characters from that movie including Robo Shankar's and Vinoth's characters who played the much-glorified sidekicks and spins an entirely new plot with even more masala and mass elements. Also, there is Krishna, performing a second fiddle to Dhanush, Sai Pallavi playing that traditional bubbly heroine who madly falls for Maari, the long-haired villain, Tovino Thomas and Varu Sarathkumar in what appeared to be an extended cameo.
Well, Dhanush (the producer) whose intent to scale much more with regards to budget and star value than the 2015 movie has come out with style. Technically too, director Balaji Mohan has done an excellent job in terms of craft with Om Prakash's cinematography and Prasanna's editing doing the honours. The stunts looked brilliant, and the scenes, in general, were lit well. The colours were kept subtle, but at the same time popped out with beautiful skin tones.
However, the core narrative was amiss. Director Balaji Mohan has committed a blunder by over-cooking the character of Maari, delving deep into his life than what was necessary, wherein he is subjected to familial pressures and so on. That was the part that spelt havoc to the entire theme and flavour of Maari. What made Maari look so unique was taken away, and instead, he was recycled as the same stale masala hero who couldn't resist doing good. Fine, we get it that he gets transformed with Ananthi's wise words. However, the character arc looked so very archaic and cinematic and just didn't fit into the narrative at large.
Sadly, Robo Shankar who was so full of life in the first part hardly made an impact in this edition. There was much significance given to 'Araathu' Ananthi played by Sai Pallavi, which fell flat. Also, the same old reactions from Dhanush was getting stale. His newly developed guffawed style dialogue delivery didn't work either. Dhanush, during the teeth gnawing climax fight, exposing all his skeletons with some muscles hanging here and there was some wishful thinking from the creators.
For Dhanush fans, this movie might provide some liberal doses of masala, but for others, it's a long stretch at 147 minutes with irritating punches right on the face now and then. Maari-2 like its first part had a lot of empty talks with hardly any substance and did not work for me!
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