Less than a month after watching a film about an immoral set of twins in ‘Cobra’, Selvaraghavan’s ‘Naane Varuvean’ is released. Thankfully, this film is much better.
It has been a decade since Pa Ranjith debuted with his film ‘Attakathi’, a seemingly simple rom-com following the life of a hopeless romantic. Since then, Pa Ranjith has been one of a handful of directors responsible for revolutionising Tamil cinema and subverting the discourse surrounding caste, with his groundbreaking films ‘Madras’, ‘Kabali’ and ‘Kaala’. Last year’s ‘Sarpatta Parambarai’ garnered much acclaim despite being released on streaming services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ranjith seems to have come full circle with his latest release ‘Natchathiram Nagargirathu’, as he returns to the subject of love. Through this, we witness the extent of his development as a filmmaker. The politics of love were hidden in the background of ‘Attakathi’, whereas in ‘NN’, Ranjith brings all the guts and glory of love to the forefront.
I have always considered Gautham Vasudev Menon a vastly overrated director. Other than ‘Vettaiyadu Villaiyadu’ , his films seemed cold and ultimately hollow. His most recent feature film ‘Enai Noki Paayum Thota’ continued this trend of stylish metropolitan storytelling, despite some interesting visual choices. For Vendhu Thanindhadhu Kaadu , Menon collaborates with Silambarasan TR and AR Rahman for the third time following 2010’s ‘Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya’ and 2016’s ‘Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada’ . Third time might indeed be the charm, because VTK is mostly a success.
An hour into Cobra, I started compiling a list of films where Vikram had played a character who spent the film sporadically ‘murdering’ seemingly random targets - a style of film popularised by Shankar’s 1995 film Indian. The first film that came to mind was Balaji Sakthivel’s Samurai, a pale imitation of the Shankar plot, which besides the soundtrack, was mostly forgettable. Next, there is Shankar’s own, and perhaps the best iteration, 2005 film Anniyan. Finally, the 2009 Susi Ganesan contribution, Kandhasamy, an unintentional so-bad-it’s-good film, where Vikram can be seen as a vigilante serving out his own brand of justice dressed as a chicken. And suddenly, I had a list of films to compare Cobra to. And despite having a bigger budget and wider scope, Cobra may be the worst of the bunch.
Mithran Jawahar started his career on a high note. Remaking his mentor Selvaraghavan’s only Telugu film ‘Aadavari Matalaku Arthale Verule’ in Tamil as ‘Yaaradi Nee Mohini’ starring Dhanush, Selvaraghavan’s brother, Jawahar benefitted from the solid and nuanced screenplay. Jawahar has since remained in the rom-com lane, his other film of note being another Dhanush starrer ‘Uthamaputhiran’, a riotous sequence of laughs which bolstered Jawahar’s reputation for comedy. However, I was not a fan of Jawahar’s ‘Kutty’, causing some apprehension entering this film.
It's a terrible sign when the interval card rolls up and you let out a sign of exasperation, realising there’s another hour and fifteen minutes to sit through. The film opens with the usual cocktail for Tamil commercial ventures: the hero enters to an action block (in this instance, a wrestling match) followed by a song where his strength, bravura and good nature are praised, and soon after we are introduced to the romantic interest.