Kennedy Club Tamil Movie
'Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu' that released in 2009 is arguably one of the first contemporary sports films that were based on a rural sport like 'Kabaddi.' The movie not only introduced an actor like Vishnu Vishal but also gave a promising director like Suseenthiran to Kollywood. Director Suseenthiran has had a unique career graph since then. He has dabbled with various genres with limited success. For him, the career has come a full circle with Kennedy Club, a film that is based on girls' Kabaddi league.
The movie was on predictable lines and traveled along with the hardships faced by girls from a humble rural background, with a passion for the sport, struggling to make a mark thanks to bureaucracy and nepotism. They have their idol figure as coaches - the elder gentler one played by Bharathiraja and the younger vibrant guy is Sasikumar. The young girls who play Kabaddi have been diligently handpicked.
The short backstory for each player and their passion for the game was explored briefly during the introduction. Of course, to compensate for the offbeat casting, the star player was an eye-candy girl next door, played by debutante Meenakshi Govindarajan. Sasikumar as the coach has donned a role that satiates his heroism (of course he has a fight sequence), but without a pair.
Bharathiraja with his corrosive vocals and a crude English dialect rocks the boat at times. As with many Suseenthiran films, the villain had shades of black, and there was a clear demarcation between the hero and the villain, and there were no character arcs per se. Everything was linear, flat, and monotonous.
As with every sports film that has the underdogs finishing on a winning note, this movie too treads the same path. The internal politics within the team, ego clashes between Sasikumar and Bharathiraja, the emotional melodrama were just short episodes that didn't have any real impact at all.
The narrative and the scenes were also not staged in a mentionable fashion. We get bits, and pieces of everything served in an imbecile scoop. As a result, the movie has come across as a stale sports drama that didn't have that vigor and velocity to hit the finishing line. Another let down from director Suseenthiran in spite of bringing actors like Bharathiraja and Sasikumar together.
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