Official Trailer:

In Pariyerum Perumal, Maari Selvaraj explored the struggles of an individual, a college going student, who faced discrimination from the oppressor castes. The writing was organic with interesting characters. The antagonist, the girl’s father, was one of the well-developed characters in Kollywood movies. We got a peek into his state of mind, the peer pressure he faces, the need to conform to the community, oscillating between the caste pride and affection. Pariyerum Perumal was a battle cry on the need for different communities to come to the table and converse. In Karnan, we saw a discriminated community rise against the power to assert themselves – just to get a bus stop so that their young ones can get to school to get educated. Maari Selvaraj showed us how the small community overcomes the multi-generational views, accept their fate and live with what they have or stand up for their rights, knowing fully what they are up against, the government machinery steeped in caste prejudices with power is in the hands of oppressor castes.

In Maamannan, Maari Selvaraj, studies the power structure in the parties. Do the members of the parties founded on the principles of social justice practice it themselves? The protagonist, who belongs to the scheduled caste, is the MLA from such a social justice party. Does being an MLA give him an equal sitting at the table within the party? Instead of asserting his rights, Maamannan, the MLA, accepts his fate. Whether it is Ratnavel or his late Ratnavel’s father Sundaram, Maamannan always stand in front of them, he doesn’t sit. They also don’t ask him to sit. Athiveeran, Maamannan’s son, of current generation, is not happy with his father’s approach or the treatment he gets, and they are not in talking terms. This premise is so powerful that gives ample scope for the director to explore the current party structures (highly relevant in Tamil Nadu where the two leading parties are started on the principle of social justice) and give a constructive criticism. The strong writing does build to an explosive showdown in half-way point but post the meeting with Chief Minister, the movie goes downhill losing the focus. The election campaigns, caste organizations, twists, and fights are highly predictable and meandering. The whole TV debate sequence and fight scenes come across as lazy writing. The thought-provoking finish couldn’t redeem the story.

The director takes the time to build the characters of Athiveeran, Ratnavel, and Maamannan. I appreciated the effort that has gone in writing that organically leads to the showdown at Ratnavel’s house. By now we are used to Maari Selvaraj’s use of animals to show the mirror to our society. The dog and pig symbolism works but I felt the graphic violence of dogs’ attack on pigs could have been toned down or shown differently. There are multiple interesting threads that could have been developed and deployed by the director. The Dojo and the educational institute for example. As it is written now, they are there just to lead to the showdown. After that they are forgotten. Ratnavel’s character comes across as one dimensional, a really bad and prejudiced person. Once in a while we get to hear his political acumen but doesn’t go beyond that. Relationship between him and his wife is not explored (she seems to be having a calming effect on him) – this could have given a shade to Ratnavel’s character and also more time to wife’s role – she contests the election and wins but her election campaign and how she won are not explored at all. Similarly, Leela’s role.

Vadivelu and Fahadh Faasil are brilliant in their roles. Extra applause to Fahadh Faasil, he makes a one-dimensional villain looks big and menacing with his awesome performance. Theni Easwar with his cinematography and A.R.Rahman with his score elevate the mood. Considering the strong first half, I guess director did have a well written script for the second half, but someone swapped the pages 🤔