Movie Review: Garudan
Adi ( Sasikumar) and Karuna (Unnimikundan) are orphaned as kids. Due to this, they share a deep bond and become best friends, living in Kombai village in Theni mavattam.
Sokkan ( Soori) another orphan, becomes their friend as well He is very close to Karuna who had been kind to him, and will do anything for him. Appatha (Vadivukkarasi) looks after them all. She is also the Kombai Amman temple trustee in the village.
Sokkan loves a milkmaid girl ( Revathy Sharma). Karuna has no children while Adi is happily married ( to Shivadha)and has 2 kids.
Karuna's wife's brother (Dushyanth) is in love with Parveen ( Brigida Saga) who gets pregnant. So Karuna arranges their wedding much against the wishes of his father-in-law.
Muthuvel ( Samuthirakani) is a local cop who gets involved in an illegal agenda of a politico ( RV Udhayakumar) who hatches a plan to usurp some temple land in Chennai, the old ownership deed of which, is in the Kombai Amman vault in Theni. The temple being in the control of Karuna and the committee of which Adi is a part, will never yield to illegal means.
So, the politico sends Nagarajan ( Mime Gopi) to somehow coax and bribe Karuna to give up the deed.
But circumstaces begin to change very fast. When the righteous Adi comes to know of this, he is indignant. Circumstances soon get out of control when Karuna's ego is hurt by a series of events and his needs get the better of him. All this leads to a huge rift in relationships and the power equation amongst the friends.
What happens next? Does the deep friendship survive this sudden upheaval? Does the politico get the land? What is Sokkan's role in all of this ?
The casting is superbly done by Durai Senthilkumar. Every member of the ensemble cast delivers stupendously.
Unni Mukundan is well cast, as he brings to life Karuna, peeling off layers in his character, with twists aplenty. His body language and eyes convey everything with the bare minimum of dialogue. One would wish to see more of this actor in Kollywood after Garudan.
Sasikumar delivers another solid act as the rich, grounded, sensible friend, loving husband and righteous village member with a sense of right and wrong. The nuanced performance retains a freshness and his dialogues, delivered with a quiet gravitas, are key in the film. This role ranks high amongst his list of best performances In recent times.
For Soori, this is another feather in his cap as a serious actor, after Viduthalai. He lives the role, evoking a warm smile with his sincerity and loyalty and being equally credible as he slowly transforms and grows into making tough, life and death decisions as a character. The transformation is so seamless and seemingly effortless, that it solidifies Soori's transition into a lead actor post Viduthalai. There are numerous scenes of Soori which stand out, from the pre- climax and climax portions, to the emotional sequences and the superbly performed stunts to the comical, innocent love track with the super talented Revathy Sharma, who is like a breath of fresh air with her natural performance.
Sshivada leaves such a lasting impression which forces one to wonder why her talent has not been utilised fully thus far on screen. A gem of an actor who we hope will get meaty roles after Garudan.
Samuthurakani, RV Udhayakumar, Mime Gopi are other solid pillars of support with their measured performances.
The music by Yuvan offers solid support to the story while the art and camera departments deserve kudos.
On the flip side are scenes of gory violence which seems to have taken over Tamil cinema of late.
Watch out for the build up to the climax and the climax itself. But more importantly, for the slow and steady narrative which builds up to a cresendo, will keep you glued to the screen, with rivetting performances, steady doses of emotion, humor, friendship, love, loyalty, duty, beyrayal and greed.
A grandly mounted film, with excellent performances, visuals, and a solid story which is conveyed in a well paced, gripping manner from start to finish, with twists at regular intervals, make Garudan a superb watch.
Rating 3.75 /5
CAST
SOORI as SOKKAN
SASIKUMAR as AADHITHYA
UNNI MUKUNDAN as KARUNAKARAN
REVATHI SHARMA as VINNARASI
SSHIVADA as TAMIL SELVI
BRIGIDA SAGA as PARVEEN
ROSHINI HARIPRIYAN as ANGAIYARKANNI
SAMUTHIRAKANI as MUTHTHUVEL
MIME GOPI as THEATREKAARAN NAGARAJ
R.V. UDAYAKUMAR as KAA. THANGAPANDI
VADIVUKKARASI as SELLAAYI APPATHTHA
DUSHYANTH JAYAPRAKASH as VAIRAVEL
CREW
DIRECTOR – R.S. DURAI SENTHILKUMAR
WRITER – R.S. DURAI SENTHILKUMAR & TEAM
DOP – ARTHUR A. WILSON
MUSIC – YUVAN SHANKAR RAJA
EDITOR – PRADEEP E. RAGAV
BANNER - GRASSROOT FILMS, LARK STUDIOS
PRODUCED BY – K. KUMAR
RELEASE – FIVE STAR K. SENTHIL KUMAR
P
PRO – YUVARAJ BALAJI
