Maari Selvaraj has written and directed some of the most memorable films for the Tamil industry in the last decade. His most recent feature ‘Vaazhai’ was one of the best of 2024 as well as amongst the director’s career. His latest film ‘Bison Kaalamaadan’ is a political sports drama with a heavy dose of gangster action starring Dhruv Vikram and Pasupathy.
The film follows Kittan (Dhruv Vikram) a youngster who is obsessed with the sport of kabaddi. He faces hurdles at every stage of his progression in the sport, starting within the home where his father (Pasupathy) discourages his son from participating, fearing it will lead him down a path of violence and rowdyism. At its core, despite the usual Selvaraj touches and embellishments, ‘Bison’ suffers from sticking too much to an extremely tired sports drama storyline. The film tones down Selvaraj’s signature style due to the high amount of exposition and plot. There are repeated moments of tension that feel superfluous. Even the visual metaphors - one of Selvaraj’s strongest aspects as a filmmaker - felt a little underdeveloped. The themes and execution of the film bring to mind Pa Ranjith’s political boxing drama ‘Sarpatta Parambarai’ and Vetrimaaran’s carrom gangster drama ‘Vada Chennai’ both of which also use a sport/game as its focus. ‘Bison’ is Selvaraj’s take on the genre, but unfortunately the two aforementioned films achieve greater success in their realisation.
The cast perform their roles well. Dhruv Vikram carries the film, easily meeting the high physical demands of his sportsman character. Pasupathy is a fantastic character actor, however his role as Kittan’s father Velusamy seems to have underutilised his talents. Rajisha Vijayan plays Kittan’s encouraging sister Raji who continually pushes him to pursue his dreams. Lal and Ameer perform as Kandasamy and Pandiarajan, two clashing figureheads for their respective communities who provide most of the backdrop of Kittan’s local struggles. Although Anupama Parameshwaran’s turn as romantic interest Rani is well acted (and also provides some of the lushest moments of cinematography), one cannot help but wonder if she adds much to the plot or Kittan’s character development.
The technical craft behind the film is also not up to Selvaraj’s usual standard. Nivas K Prasanna’s score and soundtrack is generic and lacks the eccentric style that usually elevates Selvaraj’s material in the form of frequent collaborator Santhosh Narayanan’s music. Frequent cinematographer the fantastic Theni Eswar is also substituted for Ezhil Arasu K, who does a decent job overall but lacks the proficiency to capture the natural beauty often found in Selvaraj’s work. The lengthy runtime still does not feel enough to properly tell the story, as the film chases one plot point after another.
Overall, ‘Bison’ is a film that attempts to do too much - the number of subplots greatly drag the film down. Although ‘Bison’ sits alongside ‘Maamannan’ as one of Selvaraj’s weaker films, a few of his touches elevate it from other lesser sports dramas. I would recommend watching Selvaraj’s films ‘Pariyerum Perumal,’ ‘Karnan’ and ‘Vaazhai,’ as well as the aforementioned sports dramas.
Krishna's rating: 3 stars
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Official trailer for film below.
