This is one of the few recent Tamil movies I have seen that I didn’t really enjoy. I felt the pacing was a bit off, and the writing makes it feel like an older Tamil movie with masala sensibilities almost. I watched Por Thozhil before this movie, and I enjoyed that more.

The pacing -

I felt that it’s as though they couldn’t decide if they wanted a slower, artsy movie, or a more action-masala type of movie , so they ended up in the edit, with a slow-paced starting, that takes way too long to get to the inciting incident with so much world-building and explanation and flashbacks (some of these are not even paid off properly given how long it took, like what happened to the needy students), and then when the story finally begins after the destruction of the dojo, the story becomes too fast and masala-oriented that it starts to feel casual and glossed over.

The writing -

The film does have a message, but it wraps up that message in a masala film sort of story that feels like it would be better appreciated in 2010. Given the pure-genre movies that are coming out nowadays, like Por Thozhil, and the filmmakers’ and audiences’ tastes changing, to me, the story seems a bit outdated. Don’t get me wrong, I do like when this kind of thing is done well. Viduthalai or Venthu Thuninthathu Kaadu, I feel, is a good example of the masala style being adapted for recent times, and I enjoyed those movies.

Here however, despite Fahadh giving such a brilliant performance and trying his best to add nuance, his character from the start to end is just ‘I’m a bad guy who does bad things because I’m bad.’ Udhay’s character also seems to have anger management issues, which the movie never addresses ‘because he’s the hero’ I guess, and this makes it feel like some Vikram cop movie from the 2000s. The romance and Keerthy’s character also has nothing to do with the plot besides using the dojo space and causing the movie’s inciting incident (which also happens so late into the movie as I’ve said)

Fahadh’s and Vadivel’s acting saved this movie and made it a watchable affair at least I feel. Maybe Director Mari faced a hurtful moment where someone insulted him(he said in BR’s interview that a hurtful incident inspired the movie), and he turned that anger into this movie with no grey shade, just ‘black vs white’. But the lack of gray shade or nuance feels very outdated.

I don’t mean to hate on the movie, maybe I missed out something. Please share your thoughts too.