SAVARAKATHI (2018)

Critic - No.149

Director: G.R.Adithya
Casts: Ram, Mysskin, Poorna
Music: Arrol Corelli
Language: Tamil
Genre: Comedy / Drama

SYNOPSIS:
A loud mouthed barber, Pichaimoorthy (Ram) has a scuffle with a gangster, Manga (Mysskin) on the road that results in him running all over the city to save himself.

REVIEW:
Mysskin has been easily labelled as a film maker who is fond of dark thrillers with a heavy dose of intensity. However, ‘Savarakathi’ is a surprising entry in his writing book that expresses the funny bone inside him. 

The film revolves around the cat and mouse chase between Pichai who voluntarily offends the ruthless rowdy, Manga who will be facing his three year jail imprisonment that same evening. Pichai has not only have to save himself but also shade his naggy pregnant wife Subathra, his two children and attend the secret marriage of his brother-in-law. With loads of obstacles stacked up, debutant (also Mysskin’s younger brother) G.R. Adithya pulls off this comical yet meaningful mayhem quite comfortably. That said, we have to wait and see how he creates his own style in his next films.

The film does not only focuses on the three well defined lead characters but also uses each and every character and sub plots to pump up the comedy. The supporting characters who play as Mysskin’s subordinates are definite scream. There has been always a theatrical touch in Mysskin’s character but in Savarakathi he takes it a notch higher and it takes a little while to gel with that eccentricity. But once we get comfortable, it becomes thoroughly engaging.

Ram scores the best in the film with his raw acting while Pooran delivers her best performance in her career. Mysskin, with his expressive eyes terrorizes us in one instance and makes us roll in laughter at another.

‘Savarakathi’ differs from the usual dialogue driven comedy we see in the past decade and focuses more on visual comedy patterns and complex situations. This relieving style brings us back to the golden era of 1980s Crazy Mohan style of comedy where situations are the emphasis. The neck wrecking pace tied with the accelerating absurdity, keeps us laughing without a break.

Arrol Corelli’s playful tunes accentuate the film’s treatment very well too. The placement of two songs are adequate and impactful. The film's packaging also reminded me of French comedies particularly, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s ‘Delicatessen (1991)’. Karthik Venkataraman plays around with a nice visual pattern as well as a few hand held raw cinematography to elevate the chaos.


The dialogues are also thought provoking and sharp filled with bold, local words that are often muted. But all of them are purposeful and well engineered to express each character’s flavour. As usual, Mysskin has put a lot of thought in the script that is very evident. The track of the young lovers being chased by the parents, gets an emotional payback that will certainly move everyone.

On the flip side, there are a few logic misses and too many coincidences which gets hidden mostly due to the speed of the film. Even though the climax somehow summarises the entire theme of birth and death (will not elaborate to avoid spoiler) quite effectively, the abrupt ending might be a little underwhelming for some. We wish that we see more of Mysskin’s character background to understand his motivation and aggression that drives the plot. 

VERDICT: 
Filled with eccentric situations and characters, ‘Savarakathi’ is crisp, hearty visual comedy stamped with trademarks of Mysskin’s peculiar staging. 

CELLULOID METER- 3.5/5: