Following years of delays and production issues, director Sudha Kongara’s latest effort ‘Parasakthi’ releases starring Sivakarthikeyan, Sreeleela, Atharvaa and Ravi Mohan. Based on the 1965 anti-Hindi imposition agitation, the film is certainly timely in the current political climate of the nation. These events were pivotal in the consolidation of the DMK party’s identity, and the film is also produced by the grandson of the party’s prominent leader M Karunanidhi — the man who wrote the screenplay for the film’s 1952 namesake starring Sivaji Ganesan. Kongara’s previous feature length Tamil film was also based on a true story, 2020’s Suriya starrer ‘Soorarai Pottru,’ which was released to strong critical and audience reception. ‘Parasakthi’ unfortunately does not measure up to her previous effort.
The film follows Chezhiyan (Sivakarthikeyan) a locomotive fireman who is the sole provider for his small family of his grandmother and his younger brother Chinnadurai (Atharvaa) who is studying at university. All three of these characters’ lives are upended when it is announced that all government services, documents and signage will now be in Hindi. The core concept of the film is a universal one, easily applicable to many issues – as highlighted in the film’s animated opening sequence. However, the crucial issue with ‘Parasakthi’ is its pacing. Yesteryear’s ‘Shakthi Thirumagan’ also suffered heavily from this problem – cramming too much plot into its runtime. Easy fixes for this issue would have been altering or removing the romantic subplot with Sreeleela as well as cutting the song sequences which unnecessarily slowed the film down. More time could have been spent establishing characters and giving scenes much needed breathing space instead of jumping from one plot point to another – most notably the pre-interval inciting incident which causes Chezhiyan’s character development. Due to this, none of the intended emotions land with impact.
The film’s plot post-interval also flies off-track — a lot happens in a short span of time. Furthermore, the film makes a point about how ‘unity’ through diversity is more important than ‘uniformity’ which goes against the strange tone the film employs; it is understandable that the filmmakers would wish for the film to reach a pan-Indian audience, however it is better to make the specific universal rather than aiming for lowest common denominator entertainment.
The cast work decently with the provided material. Sivakarthikeyan’s turn as Chezhiyan is solid, as he is more than capable of delivering the rousing dialogue in the second half of the film. Atharvaa is not given enough scope to create a memorable character in his allotted screen time. Sreeleela plays her role well, although it ultimately could have ended up on the cutting room floor. Ravi Mohan does his best with a slightly underwritten villain too, a role which could have been an interesting and complex character with more screen time.
One of the best components of ‘Parasakthi’ is its craft. The dedication to creating a period piece stands alongside some of the best from the industry. The sets, costumes and makeup show the meticulousness taken to construct the look of the film. However, the CGI used throughout the film was often poorly done, especially in the climactic action portion. GV Prakashkumar’s soundtrack is an unnecessary addition to the film as previously discussed, however his score can be forgiven due to the awkward pacing of the film.
Overall, ‘Parasakthi’ falls significantly short of its intentions. The emotions are ripe for the picking but the film never reaches anywhere near its potential due to its own need to tick too many boxes. The film continually fails to become something truly great, despite having all the trappings for it.
Krishna's rating: 2.5 stars
___
Official trailer for film below.