KARNAN (2021)

Director: Mari Selvaraj

Writer: Mari Selvaraj

Stars: Dhanush, Lal, Rajisha Vijayan

Release date: 9 April 2021

Running time: 2h 38min 

ABOUT MOVIE:

Karnan is a socio-political drama, written and directed by Mari Selvaraj, and produced by Kalaipuli S Thanu under the banner, V Creations. It has Dhanush and Rajisha Vijayan playing the lead roles.

SYNOPSIS:

Karnan, a fearless village youth, must fight for the rights of the conservative people of his village, due to the torture given by a police officer.

MOVIE REVIEW:

In the climax of Mari Selvaraj’s previous film Pariyerum Perumal, Pariyan (Kathir) has a fiery conversation with Jo’s father (played by Marimuthu), during which, he says “Yer pudicha kai la naanum vaal pudichavan dhan!” And that’s exactly what defines the character of Karnan. He is a politically conscious youngster who is impulsive and can seldom control his anger.

A lot of his actions, or rather reaction towards a lot of things makes his village Podiyankulam prone to being destroyed by both the State (comprising the police and the collector) and also the upper caste people of a neighboring village. The village Podiyankulam doesn’t have a bus stop and buses don’t stop there. What Karnan does to solve this, forms the story. Although there are multiple sub-plots, they’re all twined to the bus stop conflict and that’s one place where Mari Selvaraj stands out as a writer.

It’s impossible to imagine anyone except Dhanush as Karnan. His screen presence provides enough swagger to the action sequences while his acting in the other scenes melt your heart. He fits perfectly into the character designed by Mari. Among other actors, Lal, Rajisha Vijayan and Lakshmipriyaa Chandramouli score in almost every scene they appear.