What happens when an actor who appreciates and celebrates good cinema turns into a director? You get a Dhoni! The very mention of Prakash Raj raises people’s expectations about any movie. Mozhi, Abhiyum Naanum and Kancheevaram are some examples. If he can make such an impact as an actor, imagine what he can do when he becomes a director.
This is the second film in recent times that strongly opposes the education system but is far ahead of similar movies portraying the same thing. The main characters are a middle class widower (Subramaniyam) who owes money to almost everyone he knows and makes a living by working in a government office and also by selling home-made pickles. He wants his son to study MBA. His son (Karthik) eats, sleeps, dreams and lives cricket but is forced to study in school due the financial position of his family and the highly competitive society. His daughter(Kaveri) tries to help his brother study well but that goes in vain as well. His neighbor (Nalini), a mother of two herself, earns her living through prostitution and helps the family by lending money in difficult situations.
The first half shows how much Karthik loves cricket. His father tries everything he could to make him study. After the threat by his school that they will detain Karthik in 9th std if he continues to be indifferent to studies, his father stops him from playing cricket, and enrolls him in additional classes for all subjects. But after some days, he eventually loses his temper and hits his son so hard that he goes into coma. In the second half he realizes his mistakes and comes to a conclusion that his school and the educational system are the reasons for the present situation of his son. He raises his voice against everyone and pays the price for that. Will he change anything? Will Karthik become a cricket player? The rest of the film answer these questions.
Dhoni is inspired from the Marathi film Shikshanachya Aaicha Gho. Many might not have even heard about it so criticism like – “the original is way better. Remake sucks” – will largely be unheard of. Prakash Raj could have showed some respect for the original work by crediting it though.
In the perforamce department, it is a one-man show by Prakash Raj like it’s always happened before (if you exclude those crappy villain roles). One is out of words to describe his acting skills. But the people he shares his screen with fail to equal him. He could have selected someone else to play the boy role – at least someone with some basic skills in cricket. When he stands with an awkward stance in the climax and hits the ball with a stupid shot (and that is the only time you see him playing cricket), it irritates even the audience who enjoyed the whole film. The only other performance worth a mention is Naser’s (Karthik’s coach). Others have just done justice to their roles.
One more thing that is praiseworthy in the film is that they’ve not stereotyped money lenders. Some other reality sprinkles are the colony gang and their open heart discussion on the terrace during their drinks time, how schools today depend on and tout their 100% result, and using Neeya Nanna to raise his word against the society etc.
After a long time, Isaignani Ilayaraja pleases his audience with his magic. His previous films, Azhagarsaamiyin Kuthirai and Ponnar Shankar, didn’t have that magic that is present in this one. All songs are a treat to the audience. BGM is Raja’s cup of tea, which is also the highlight of this film. One song that stands out is Vaangum Panathukkum in S.P.B.’s voice and Prabhudeva’s cameo. One can just hope that Ilayaraja continues to compose songs like this so that he remains as a legend for the present generation too where many young composers are creating magic.
As many of the roles like direction, screenplay, production, acting were taken by Prakash Raj, most of the credits goes to him. But still editor Kishore and cinematographer Guhan are worth a mention. Dialogues are the backbone of the film. Succinct dialogues serve as another feather in Prakash Raj’s cap.
Though there are some logic glitches like – why does a 9th grade student have 17th tables as his homework? how did the police know about Subbu hitting his son?, etc. But they don’t make much difference to the story by a large margin. The only negative point in the film is the inconsistency in lip sync that prevails in almost every scene. It was more like a Telugu dubbed film with some Tamil scenes added here and there. But the story and Prakash Raj’s screen dominance make up for all the glitches.
Films that make strong comments on the society are quite rare in Tamil cinema and something that opposes our education system is one of its kind. One can only hope for more such films which showcase and highlight more such issues and make an impact in the society. One also wishes that Prakash Raj doesn’t fight the heroes but directs them more.
Dhoni – A captain’s knock
[rating: 1]
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