OTT: A lacklustre Maaran, homage to farmers & old-school time travel flick

To be fair to a talented actor like Dhanush, he tries extremely hard to lift his latest action thriller, Maaran but fails miserably mostly because of a wafer-thin plot. Karthick Naren, the director, who had made the 2016 sleeper hit Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru (Tamil version is currently streaming on Amazon Prime), which had turned him into a sought-after filmmaker, seems to have run out of steam. Halfway through Maaran, Naren desperately tries to add dramatic twists to keep up the momentum of the film but the surprises are too lame to grip the viewer.

Most filmmakers also frankly don’t seem to get the profile of a media person at all. Either he is a money-grabbing sleazeball or a bold, unstoppable journalist who is uncovering stories at an unrealistic pace about corrupt politicians. Actor Jiiva’s portrayal of a journalist in the late K V Anand’s excellent political thriller Ko, was the closest to being realistic. But that is largely because Anand had a newspaper background.

In Maaran, however, the “best-ever investigative journalist” walks around with a lot of swag easily breaking earth-shattering stories about politicians. (there’s no telling how he does this) Even as an evil politician sends goondas all the time to beat him up openly in public, (without fear of the law of course) and Maaran (Dhanush) vanquishes them all in a flash. Once, he even defends himself against a bunch of bad guys with a mean-looking sharp pen that draws blood.

Is this supposed to be a weak jab at the ‘pen being mightier than the sword’? Also, the director decides to slide in some messages about how the media is crammed with negative news and how people also want to see positive news (hey, great eyeopener) and how journalists can write bad things like politicians trying to introduce EVMs that can be tampered with (ahem!) without thinking of the damage it can cause to families that are dealing in this? What?

There is nothing that is remotely sane about the plot. The film starts with Sathyamoorthy (Ramki), an honest investigative journalist, who gets killed for publishing the truth about a dishonest politician being responsible for the death of 40 schoolchildren. (no real details here either just Ramki poking around in a dusty room looking for evidence and finds it in a file) Before he dies, he advises his son Mathimaaran (Dhanush) that it is important, to be honest but one has to be smart as well. Sathyamoorthy gets killed and his wife dies in a hospital after giving birth to a baby girl named Shweta (Smruthi Venkat).

Mathimaaran raises his sister even while he studies and becomes this uber-smart journalist. But he faces the wrath of politician Pazhani (a wasted Samuthirakani, who storms around looking nervous and threatening in parts) who is trying to win the election by changing the EVM machines. Pazhani predictably targets the apple of Maaran’s eye – his sister.

Meanwhile, the attractive Malavika Mohanan plays a kind of supporting role and nervously chews gum throughout the film trying to look nonchalant and cool. Knowing well that the film is running on an aimless track. There are some aerial shots of fights on a flyover which is quite impressive. The music is average as well and the film, which reportedly was made under a cloud with director Naren almost out of the project, turns out to be a complete squib. Maaran is streaming on Disney+Hotstar.

Also read: Ukraine documentary, Bond film & Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ on OTT

There’s some hope for the weekend, as another thriller, director Manu Anand’s debut film, FIR, landed on Amazon Prime Video as well this weekend. This film, which received mixed reviews when it was released in the theatres, seems like a better bet. Vishnu Vishal essays the role of a Muslim youth, Irfan Ahmed, who ends up becoming the most wanted man by the cops.

A chemical engineer from IIT Madras, he works in a small firm but has big dreams. When he attends interviews he is repeatedly asked  – Are you religious? Irfan stays with his mother who works with the police. There’s a parallel story of an investigative agency trying to hunt down a dreaded terrorist named Abubakar Abdullah, who is apparently planning a massive terror attack. Gautham Menon heads the agency and he’s closely working with a team to nab Abubakar Abdullah before he could wreak havoc. When Irfan accidentally gets caught in the mission to capture Abdullah, his life turns upside down.

He is suddenly accused of terrorism, and has to find his way back to a normal life. The film was criticised for some “unnecessary over-the-top elements”, which diluted its core premise of trying to highlight the growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the country. It, however, had its heart in the right place, said media reviews, as Vishnu Vishal’s performance was praised. After scoring a huge hit with the psycho killer thriller Ratsasan (now being remade in Hindi with Akshay Kumar as Mission Cinderella), he reportedly pushed boundaries both as an actor and producer with FIR.

Gautham Menon plays the role of the head of an investigative agency (like M in James Bond) with elan and competently. Check out this film.

Also read: OTT: Hostage dramas, the fame game & a grisly honour killing film

Ode to a farmer

Well, here’s a gem that landed on OTT. M Manikandan (Kakka Muttai)’s Kadaisi Vivasayi, as the title suggests, is the story about the last farmer left in a village, that once had a thriving farming community. The film tackles questions about God, faith and the idea of transcendence and the film revolves around the farmer Mayandi, played by a non-professional actor Nallandi, whose subtle performance has been hailed as “heartwarming and devastating at once”.

Ramaiah, played by Vijay Sethupathi, is brushed off as “mad” by villagers after the death of his lover. In a scene, a group of villagers laugh at Ramaiah when he tells them he met Bill Gates on his way to the village and spoke with him. Nobody believes him until they hear on the radio that Gates is touring Tamil Nadu for his charity. When Ramaiah tells Mayandi that he met Lord Muruga, Mayandi asks him, “What did he say?”

The farmer doesn’t mistrust anyone or judge people but just listens to them with empathy. For he believes that every person has his own truth. The film’s humour has Manikandan stamp on it: sarcastic and situational. It is widely regarded as one of the year’s best Tamil films. Kadaisi Vivasayi is now streaming on SonyLiv.

Streaming tip: Samskara

For those interested in good cinema, Kannada film, Pattabhi Rama Reddy’s Samskara,  based on UR Ananthamurthy’s novel, is available to watch on YouTube. Samskara, which is an acerbic attack on the caste system, was part of the New Wave cinema that swept across the country in the late 1960s and ’70s. Reddy’s film was banned initially for fear of a backlash from the Brahmin community and was released later. It went on to win the National Award for Best Film.

Time-Travel

The premise of The Adam Project, released on Netflix this weekend, is basically “Iron Man reimagined as a modern time-travel movie”, said a reviewer. A pilot from the ‘future’ must undo his visionary father’s work in the past so that the father’s evil business partner is stopped from exploiting the technology and ruling the planet.

The sci-fi action-adventure begins in 2050, with time-travelling fighter pilot Adam Reed (Reynolds) under attack from other jets. He intends to travel back to 2018 to find his missing wife Laura (Zoe Saldana) but accidentally crash-lands in 2022 and is found by his 12-year-old self, played by Walker Scobell.

Together, they must find a way to reach 2018 – while being chased by smart corporation villains – and convince their affable dad that his invention needs to be lost in time. The Adam Project’s plot is reportedly full of gaping holes, but is meant to be an old school feel-good movie. Don’t overthink this one.