BISON Review - Slightly Haphazard, yet Reaches its Destiny!

Ashwin Ram

Writing/ Direction: Portrays the inspiring journey of a sportsman who faces a little internal and a lot of external conflicts. How the people around him, their politics impact and influence innocent lives is shown well. But then, the focus which was there in Mari Selvaraj’s most previous outings such as Pariyerum Perumal, Karnan and Vaazhai is a little off here. Some sort of confusion prevails whether to proceed things forward by placing the sports aspect or the caste politics in the foreground. The director has somehow achieved his intentions by covering both topics and conveying his rightful thoughts, however not in a fully effective manner. Ameer and Lal portions gain no momentum for the longest time, there are even questions for their existence in the story, thankfully they both impact the hero’s life at a point both personally and professionally. In fact they both get the best scenes in the movie. If their characters had more involvement with the core story from the beginning, then the result would have been much better. Despite a likeable motivator, in the form of a PET teacher, the Kabaddi sequences in the first half fall flat as the reasoning is very verbal. Only in the later stages, the flow becomes worthy and we actually feel that the hero has a point to prove. There is a solid bus scene with a stunning goat conflict, but it is followed with three repetitive action blocks. Likewise, there are multiple retelling factors in the film, the never ending backstories for that matter. Each character for every single liking of theirs narrates a flashback, it becomes suffocating with too much information crossing the tolerance mark. The filmmaking is topical and there is no degrading Mari Selvaraj’s aesthetic sense, but his obsession with animal metaphors is getting out of hand now. The majority of Kabaddi sequences are one-sided matches rather than putting up a tough fight. One hand of the hero is broken in the interval point, he still positions himself for the immediate next game and how unfair it is to the other players in the first place, moreover he wins with flying colours. In spite of some dragging spots towards the end, The drama in the second half, packed with multiple solid stretches saves the lengthy affair. The intense climax and the proud emotional moment at the end is a clever way to send-off the audience.

Performances: Bison is definitely the arrival of Dhruv Vikram, the boy has delivered both emotionally and physically, he has exhibited his dynamic quality in dubbing, by leveling down his base voice. Pasupathy in a great role after Sarpatta, he gets a full-fledged character of a cautious father who goes to any extent in saving his son. Rajisha Vijayan is a neat support sister to Dhruv Vikram, yet some of her motivational dialogues are not powerfully written. The initial point of Anupama Parameswaran’s love has a very convenient cinematic touch to it, however her adamant behaviour in restoring it is likeable in the progression. Ameer interfering in her wedding with some razor-sharp dialogues highlights her presence. Ameer feels he is straight out of the Vada Chennai hangover. Lal appears in a barely important role until a point in the story. Both the highly anticipated supporting artists end up being underwhelming, at least they both were restricted to one good scene each. Aruvi fame actor Madhan plays a fantastic PET teacher role, his smiling face spreads so much positivity.

Technicalities: Nivas K Prasanna’s songs do kick in the soul of the subject, and work best along with the visual flow more than just in the audio form. His background score keeps the situations alive, however the Santhosh Narayanan magic is missed as the combo was something special in the past. Top-notch cinematography, such a great display of aesthetic shots that effectively translates the filmmaker’s vision. The film could have been crisper by cutting down the repetitive establishments, etc... The flow did feel a little all-over-the-place as the narrative style was sloppy at places, the portions in the later half involving the sport were presented well by striking the balance between the Kabaddi moves and the crowd reactions. Raw action in display, be it violence or the hand-combat, the stunt choreography was damn realistic.

Verdict: Mari Selvaraj takes the sports drama aspect to shoulder his politics and caste discrimination this time. Ameer and Lal’s character could have been incorporated in a neater way, so as the Kabaddi sequences till midway. Thankfully things become way better in the later parts of the story and help in conveying the director’s vision.

BISON - Slightly Haphazard, yet Reaches its Destiny!

Rating - 2.75/ 5.