Maaveeran Review - Cracker of a Commercial Entertainer!

Ashwin Ram

Maaveeran is a fantasy action drama starring Sivakarthikeyan, Aditi Shankar and Mysskin in the lead roles.

Premise: Sivakarthikeyan and the rest of the people in his area are shifted to a high-rise apartment in the name of Government scheme. Turns out it is a scam as the building is poorly constructed to loot money. The livelihood of the poor goes for a toss and the situation demands a ‘Maaveeran’.

Writing/ Direction:

The starting point of the movie where the poor people are made to vacate their native in the name of welfare is a familiar one. But we have not really seen a story in detail about what happens to the people after accepting the offer. Hence the story becomes fresh and fortunately the development is done exceptionally well. The apartment in which most of the movie takes place is beautifully established at the beginning by covering many aspects of various families living there, quickly without wasting time. Soon after the payoffs are done which takes the story forward, the pace never drops till the interval, as the unique selling point which is the voice-over the hero alone hears is also introduced within 45 minutes into the movie. Director has cleverly described the world the story is going to revolve and has smartly played with it. Thoroughly entertaining with so many lively comedies, the conflict is also strong and the fantasy element offers aplenty. The whistle-worthy mass moments are so naturally incorporated with the script which even a general movie-goer would be excited to see. The scenes between the hero and the villain are also done right, with a mix of seriousness and quirkiness at the same time. The film is nowhere preachy, but the underlying message is crystal clear. Characters are superbly designed, in a way we would be in sync with them at any given time. There are times the film slipped, especially in the second half. The momentum falls when the second half starts, certain places are flat, but thankfully it is only till a point. However there could have been some trimming when the story stays still until that mega plot-point arrives. The climax could have definitely been better, it tries for a dramatic finish. The ending is solid, but the sequence that leads to it lacks finesse.

Performances:

Knockout performance from Sivakarthikeyan, a character which every actor would be delighted to play, is the rise of a common man to a hero, which will easily and instantly connect with everyone. No nonsense romantic scenes for Aditi Shankar, she plays a role which is valuable to the story. Mysskin’s character is well designed, he is outrightly bad which is boring but there are some interesting layers to his life which make his presence interesting. Telugu actor Sunil plays the villain’s pawn, an important role and he has played it neatly knowing its strength. In-form Yogi Babu is always a joy to watch, full marks for his timing comedies and counter punches along with the apt story situations.

Technicalities:

Bharath Sankar’s songs are not great, but not bad at the same time. However they shine along with the visuals, the choreography of the opening kuthu number is terrific and hands down SK’s best till date. He wins big with the background score by showing so much variety. With a solid theme in hand, he didn’t just stick to it but went with different tunes for every fight scene. Excellence in cinematography, wide range of shots and the cameraman cracks all the angles perfectly. The DI quality overall and lighting of the night shots are first class. Many sharp cuts but the film could have been scissored a bit in the second half as the story didn’t really require so much time to convey its point. Topical stunt choreography, such a great team effort makes way for some gripping action blocks.

Bottomline

Cracker of an entertainer that is packaged with theatre moments throughout but never goes out of the story. Second half could have been crisper, yet a paisa-vasool flick with many interesting elements.

Maaveeran - Clear Winner!

Rating - 3.5/ 5