MAARA (2021)
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| Critic - No. 188 |
Director: Dhilip Kumar
Produced by: Pramod Films
Casts: Madhavan,
Shraddha Srinath, Sshivada, Mouli
Language: Tamil
Music: Ghibran
Genre: Drama
SYNOPSIS:
When Paaru
(Shradda) sees a fairy tale she heard from a stranger as a child, painted
across the walls of a coastal town, she goes in search of the man who painted
it – Maara (Madhavan).
REVIEW:
For a person who has not seen the original version, Charlie
(2016), I do not have any comparison notes in my review as I saw this film as a
fresh standalone film. With various graphs of emotions, Maara is a whimsical
journey that touches upon several genre conventions such as drama, romance,
fantasy, and even a tint of mystery. From the first scene of Paaru’s grandmother
narrating a story (with some magical animation work) about a soldier and his journey
to find his fish, we are all prepped to witness a narrative that juxtaposes to
the fantastical story. From then the film fast forwards and kicks off with
Paaru’s journey to discover the man behind the painted walls in a coastal town
that matches her grandmother’s story.
The film efficiently uses flashbacks to draw fleshes and bones to
the titular character and together with Paaru, our attraction towards Maara
becomes affirming. As each character in the film that benefitted from Maara’s
help narrate their story, the audiences are thrown to a shade of mystery of not
knowing the main, bigger objective of the free-spirited Maara who kind of jumps
upon different parts of the town to make others smile. It makes us continuously
ponder on how Maara knows the story narrated by Paaru’s grandmother when she
was a child. Dhilip’s use of symbolism and fate in the film was very well
engineered in the screenplay with each sub-plots knocking towards the other.
I felt that the subplots were hit and miss with some leaning towards
the unnatural, melodramatic side. However, excellent casting by the team as we
have strong actors like MS Bhaskar, Kishore, Guru Somasundram, Sshivada and
Abhirami (Virumandi fame) helming them. However, the backbone story of
the bachelor, elderly man, Vellaiya’s (Mouli) love story is earnest and
genuine. Veteran actor Mouli, gives another career-defining performance in
Maara to an extent that I felt Vellaiya’s character impacted me more than Maara’s.
With a charming, positive smile, Madhavan fits the bill as Maara while Shraddha
looks perfect with her controlled performance.
On the flip side, I felt the film was a tad too long and I wished
that the subplots could have moved faster or trimmed down. Due to that stretch,
we could easily figure out the major twist by the halfway mark of the film. That said,
Ghibran’s whimsical score and songs work out as the live wire of the film,
boosting the engaging factor. Production designer Ajayaan and cinematographers
Dinesh Krishnan, Karthik Muthukumar should also be commended for the arresting
visuals that the film encompasses. With that, I would say that ‘Maara’
is a perfect start to the year leaving us enriched with positivity to move on
from the dreadful 2020.
VERDICT:
With a breezy, unhurried pace, Maara beautifully sails
through a mystical journey through the titular character that oozes with sheer
positive vibes.
CELLULOID METER- 3.5/5:
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