DON (2022)

Critic No. 281

Director: Cibi Chakaravarthi

Written by: Cibi Chakaravarthi

Produced by: Lyca Production, Sivakarthikeyan Productions

Casts:  Sivakarthikeyan, SJ Suryah, Priyanka Arul Mohan, Samuthirakani, Soori

Music: Anirudh

Language: Tamil

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

SYNOPSIS: 

 A playful youngster, Chakaravarthi (Sivakarthikeyan), who is still figuring out his passion, gets into an engineering college where he clashes with a disciplinarian faculty member, Boominathan (SJ Suryah).

REVIEW:

After a revival success in Doctor, Sivakrthigeyan goes back to his comfort zone of full-fledged comedy through ‘Don’. With a strong cast ensemble and subject matter that is very relevant to their primary target audience, youngsters, on paper the film is definite blockbuster material. 

As the synopsis suggests, the film is all about a carefree youngster who is forced to study Engineering by his strict Dad and how he struggles to find his real talent. Though the film sounds like a ‘Santosh Subramaniam’ kind of story, Cibi is clear that he wants the audience to have full fun before they get their message in the second half. He calculates and divides exactly the fun and the serious parts by half and that somehow plays out to be the reason why the genre mix feels abrupt. 

The first half focuses on how Chakravarthi a.k.a Don sets up in his college as a rebel and fights against the dean of the college. However, the reason he is a rebel doesn’t really come out till the end. The first half feels like a back to back lollu saba kind of episodes that come and go without gelling well with the narrative purpose. Most characters except Chakravarthi, are written on a surface level. The romantic portions look nice supported by good acting by the lead but again feel out of place. That said, the moves and countermoves between SJ Suryah and Sivakarthigeyan (SK) are quite fun, such as the episode when Boomi arranges a parent-teacher meeting with Don's father or when Don manages to put the teachers in the students' shoes.

Regarding the father-son episode, the film kicks off to show Samuthirakani as an unloving dad, who seems perennially pissed off with his son. He slaps his son on his first day at school and shaves his head when the latter wants to sport a flamboyant hairstyle like his on-screen idol Rajinikanth. When the boy falls off his bicycle, he attends to the bicycle. It routes back to sell the film eventually is the final 45 minutes where the drama sets off with father and son clash and how Don finds his dream eventually. Samuthirakani is the live wire in the end that lifts the entire mood of the film that will definitely move everyone with the character’s climax revelation. Though sub consciously, you might think it’s a quick sell to flip the entire film, Cibi ensures that our eyes get welled up.

Sivakarthigeyan’s choice of films might be always leaning towards the safer side but in ‘Don’, he heavily lifts the film’s generic nature by his acting prowess which seems to be the best in recent times. The way he handles emotional moments are really nuanced and mature this time. It’s good to see him finally improving in handling other emotions than comedy. SJ Suryah continues his good run as an antagonist while Priyanka does her limited role decently. Anirudh-SK continue their excellent form in Don as well with good commercial songs and soul stirring score. The film looks colourful and positive thanks to KM Bhaskaran’s cinematography and K Udayakumar’s production design. 

So is the film about youngsters finding their identity? Is it about the typecast parents in India who force their students to study Engineering? Or is it about education institutions who are focused on grades rather than the true learning/well-being of the students? Well, maybe a bit of all. Nevertheless, film is no doubt a better commercial flick from SK in the recent times (excluding Doctor which I feel has a better craft completely) and though the film struggles to mix the coming of age drama and college comedy properly, it manages to sell us it’s message about finding your dreams and exit the cinema halls feeling contented.

VERDICT:

Even though the film’s indecisiveness in putting a foot on a clear genre or tone does muddle the direction of the narrative, the well-intended message and the colourful treatment keep us engaged throughout to pass off as a safe, fun entertainer. 

CELLULOID METER- 3.25/5: