Sarkar Tamil Movie
Sarkar, which created high expectations during its announcement was not only because it was the coming together of the success combo of Vijay and director AR Murugadoss, but it hinted of a thoroughly politically laced film. The expectations more than matched the die-hard fans of Vijay during the movie's audio launch when the actor himself set the stage on fire with his unnaturally tailored gregariousness that raised the bar over the threshold.
After watching the movie, I was immensely disappointed not only with the screenplay but also with the flawed characterisation of Vijay. The story (which was leaked before the release due to a legal tussle) is about an NRI CEO (Vijay as Sundar Ramasamy) of an internationally acclaimed software company who comes home to cast his vote for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections. He realises that his vote has been already cast by someone. He creates a furore by delving into every legal loophole to fulfil his fundamental right as a citizen. In the end, he turns a politician and wins the elections.
Yes, agreed. On paper, the above line works great for a masala film. However, everything happens within 15 days. That is, a guy fights a legal battle and gets the EC to conduct the elections once again across the state (??!!), starts a party, select the candidates for all the 234 constituencies of Tamil Nadu, campaigns, and wins the elections. Of course, he beats up goons, hacks twitter, challenges the CM on his stage and then challenges CM's daughter, "muted" Valli too. Well, even for a 'Perarasu' or a 'Hari' film, these beeline of 'masala parade' that takes place within a fortnight is ain't gobble-worthy! Maybe, this is another drooling prospect for CS Amudhan's Tamizh Padam 3.0 (potentially).
"Corporate Criminal" was the term that was used to refer Vijay's character in the film. Vijay too proudly proclaims himself as one during various punches. Honestly, it reflected the poor understanding of the corporate world by the filmmaker. When one digs deeper into the underpinnings of Vijay's character, one could conclude that Vijay might be the real wicked hitman who has been sponsored by a foreign government to topple a government - just a viewpoint per se.
Moreover, this viewpoint ticks all the right boxes - the character which Vijay plays, Sundar Ramaswamy, the evil CEO, whenever he enters a country is known to crush all the brands by the time he gets out. More importantly, he can beat up a ton of goons! What better could we expect from an 'economic hitman'?
The others in the cast including Keerthi Suresh were unfortunately made to look like puppets. Either they glorify Vijay or oppose him and then regret their action - the same old and stale mass masala stereotypes. Of course, since the production value was high, instead of Scorpios, we could see Mercedes and Audi swinging by, with henchmen from North India getting beaten black and blue. Music by AR Rahman was average, but he has somewhat made that up with a winning background score. 'Oru Viral Puratchi' and 'Top Tucker' songs stood out among the rest. It added some style as well.
The movie that attempts to launch Vijay officially into the political game has unfortunately been festered with flawed characterization, and some ridiculously thought through masala elements that made the general audience tired. I was also dexterously sifting through the credit to see Varun Rajendiran's name pop in, but no. Maybe, AR Murugadoss has decided to own both the good and the bad along with the story! However, one could easily conclude that this is by far the director's worst screenplay that has tested a new low!
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