Rudhran Review - Routine yet Relatable!

Ashwin Ram

Rudhran is an emotional actioner starring Raghava Lawrence, Sarathkumar and Priya Bhavani Shankar in the lead roles. It is directed and produced by Fivestar Kathiresan.

Premise: Raghava Lawrence loses his dear ones to the greediness of Sarathkumar. The innocent who was happily living with his family now seeks revenge for their deaths.

Writing/ Direction:

It is a commercial film of a particular tone and naturally comes by the rule of not to expect logic in it, but surprisingly the basic logic is maintained neatly. It is definitely not a lethargically made movie, despite the treatment and the narrative style being usual. The base story offers something appreciably new, the crime happening around it might not be common but it is presented believably by a newspaper cutting, and the sentiment behind it is heart-touching. There is a knack for these commercial movies, the trick for success is to catch hold of the emotions, in that way it is a winner. The flow is true to the subject, there is enough substance that sets up the story and establishes the characters, presented as multiple flashbacks. The present portions are thankfully minimal as they are mostly just boring and vengeful action stretches, but the climax is impressive as we are injected with the whole past life of the characters and with the ‘Rudhrathandavam’ factor adding value. Sarathkumar who seemed like a weak villain for a long time suddenly takes the limelight after his strong backstory is revealed, mainly because of the connection we get over the crime he is committing. While the first half is passable, the second half is very decent, the film basically gets better as it progresses. There was an integral subplot that was left out till the director’s card at the end, glad it got a closure after that, but the final frame being ‘Rudhran 2’ was quite a bit to digest. The punch dialogues are badly written and don't fit in for the order of the day. Also, there are some cringe moments and forceful melodramatic moments at times.

Performances:

Raghava Lawrence shines bright in the lighthearted scenes, dance moves and swag slow motion shots . But his hairstyle, makeup are issues and performance-wise he struggles when he has to shout out loud. Sarathkumar's present timeline look set is also badly done, but a cakewalk act from him, especially in the flashback. A better outing for Priya Bhavani Shankar, she does a decent job and importantly gets a character that has an involvement in the story. Kaali Venkat is impressive as always in the helpful human role. Nassar and mainly Poornima Bhagyaraj get very important roles to play as the hero’s parents, solid work by both.

Technicalities:

Such a feeble flick on the technical front. Poor production quality and cost cutting is evident. The only savior is the songs, two of them reprise/ remix, the other songs composed by GV Prakash are decent too. Background music by Sam.C.S is a big blunder, fails to boost the weightage in the situations. The efforts by cameraman R.D.Rajasekhar and team are pulled by other visual aspects like costumes, hairdo, makeup, etc. Mainly the VFX is poor, the green mat shots exist in almost every scene and it is never lively. Edit pattern is convincing for a revenge saga, but there are plenty of jump cuts to make it look racy which lack finesse. Stunt team has used the location props well for all the fights, but they are overly heroic and there are countless number of cinematic rope shots.

Verdict - Despite being a template commercial film that follows all the tried and tested formulas, it is definitely not a bad choice for a one time watch as the story idea is worthy and the emotions behind it work big time. The screenplay isn’t boring too.

Rudhran - Routine yet Relatable!

Rating - 2.75/ 5.