Maaran – A bland film!

Bharath Vijayakumar 

Maaran starts like a masala film and these initial portions before the starting credits roll are full on sentiment. It is nothing we haven’t seen before and predictable as well. But the emotions work and it looks like a solid setup for a masala film. A film that could be predictable but you just hope that the masala tastes good. The film takes this masala route throughout the first half but sadly after those initial scenes nothing works.

Maaran is one of those films that doesn’t irritate you. It is the kind of film that leaves you completely uninvolved with the proceedings. And you get this feel, because the actors themselves seem to be just going through the motions. And given the caliber of some of the actors on screen, this leaves you wondering. You are thinking about what Karthik Naren is trying to do here. You sort of get the answer in the second half when the film shifts from a masala to an investigative thriller with a twist. Maybe Karthik was going for a film with a star that takes you along predictable lines and then surprises you with a reveal. But nothing works. There is hardly any thrill in the investigation angle. And if you watched the starting credits, you would have noticed a prominent name and you would have actually guessed the supposedly big reveal. Looks like Karthik relies too much on one surprise element. This happened with Mafia too. Everything else seems to be a filler and feels like a detour for no practical reason. You wouldn’t mind this if the detour has something interesting or engaging on the way. But even the regular elements of comedy, romance and action are so insipid here. Nothing registers.

At the beginning of the film. the hero's father gives him an advice. He says it is very important to be honest but more important to be smart to tackle the challenges that arise out of being honest. You basically think that is the mantra that the hero would follow and this would be the crux of the film. But you hardly see anything smart from him. How lazy must be the writing to have such a dialogue and then have the hero do something that could put him and his close ones in danger but then be so oblivious of what could happen.

Bottomline:

Maaran turns out to be a bland film. It seems like a film made with a checklist of elements but then the team doesn’t really know what to do with these elements.

Rating: 2/5