Veeran - This homegrown superhero has its moments!

Bharath Vijayakumar

ARK Saravan’s Veeran has odds stacked against it. Superhero films in Tamil have mostly disappointed, with the rare ones being average at best. On the other hand, with most of the audience being bombarded with superhero flicks from Marvel and DC at regular intervals, how are you going to make them sit up? ARK Saravan seems to know this all too well. While he probably wants to play with this genre, he also knows he possibly cannot narrate something that is going to be novel for even the local audience, who are well exposed to films from all around. So, he ensures that things are kept simple and uses his strong point humour as the film’s fulcrum.

The plot is simple and follows the standard superhero template. So, the first thing that ARK Saravan does is that he hardly wastes even a second trying to portray that he is telling a new story. There are even self-referential digs made on this account. Much like Minnal Murali, the focus is more on establishing the neighbourhood and the characters. But unlike Minnal Murali, which was more intimate with the villain, the story here is more generic with generic villains. But surprisingly, the villains are pretty neat in Veeran. Both Vinay and Badri play villains who mean business and keep it simple. And immediately, this makes the proceedings a lot better. Imagine your average Tamil film that keeps having North Indian villains lip syncing to the corniest of lines.

ARK Saravan’s strength is his humour and Veeran keeps showing glimpses of the director’s potential in this regard. The antics of Munishkant and Kaali Venkat duo keeps you grinning at regular intervals. And that climax scene involving the duo and Vinay is the kind you want to see more in films like these. But Veeran also never really turns into a laugh riot that it could have been. That is why I used the word glimpses. Most of the jokes, ensure a smile and few of them turn into laughs. But what this film misses, is at least one long stretch that keeps the momentum of laughter going. It is the same scenario with the main track of the hero saving the day. There is no real tension or anticipation of what next in the game between the hero and the villain. None of these scenes are either boring or leave you scratching your head but also none of them really take you by surprise as well. It is as though the makers decided that you pretty much know the drill. So why bother. Also, the couple of scenes that plays out for laughter using the superpower of the hero keep on going for a while. One of these involving the villain Badri works better because it keeps adding something new in every iteration of that scene.

The film keeps melodrama in check throughout. It also smartly never ventures into delivering messages through dialogues. And what a surprise that there is hardly a scene involving any character singing praises about the hero (and Aadhi keeps things simple too). It is also interesting how the film keeps stressing about science as opposed to superstition. The comedy track involving a prospective groom is another pleasant surprise. The humour is never about mocking the character’s personality (as it always is) and I really liked the closure of that track.

Bottomline

Veeran is a self-aware movie that knows what it has set out to do. Had those sparks of humour caught on like a fire, Veeran should have been a lot more enjoyable outing. As of now, it remains a worthwhile outing for an undemanding audience.

Rating: 3.25/5