Talented Malayalam actor Shane Nigam makes his transition to Tamil cinema with a film that is high on noise decibel. Like many other rustic fables, Madraskaaran (the man from Madras) assumes that all non-citified folks speak at the top of their voice as though everyone is deaf. The noise pollution is meant to add to the ongoing drama. What it does in Madraskaaran is to partially conceal its writing frailties.
Once we cross the basic premise—a guy hits a pregnant woman while driving—there is nothing much to be said except to fuel the feud that ensues. Writer-director Vaali Mohan Das trudges through the din of mob fury with little control over the hectic activity. While the jostle and shove of angry mobsters is a highlight, most of the fighting and screaming have more bark than any real bite.
Calamitously, the narrative doesn’t allow Sathya (Shane Nigam) and his adversary Singham (Kalaiyarasan) any solid opportunity for face-offs. It is as though the script conspires (rather clumsily) to keep the two apart. Imagine Sholay without the showdowns between the Thakur and Gabbar!
Like a lot of films set in Tamil Nadu, Madraskaaran features angry characters threatening to kill one another. But no one gets seriously hurt except the audience.
Sathya (Shane Nigam), the titular man from ‘Madras’, is in his hometown Pudhukottai for his marriage to Meera (Niharika Konidela). The first twenty minutes goes into delineating the wedding preparations replete with songs that require the characters to attempt corny choreographic moves, since…well, that’s what Indian weddings are about.
Here, I must confess that the choreography is as clumsy as other components of the film, especially the screenplay, which doesn’t seem to exercise any self-control nor any serious grip over the characters who are all over the place. Sathya’s savagely aborted wedding doesn’t hit us as hard as it should.
There is way too much noise to cut through before we get to the chase. Fatally, the morality tale (should a man who has mistakenly caused serious damage to another be punished with the same intensity as a common criminal)seems to implode. Several moral issues touch the characters, but none ever gets resolved.
Towards the end, a twist in the tale is introduced into the chaotic plot with such crudity and tactlessness that it feels as though the screenplay never had an opportunity to grow organically. In fact, the plot was written as the film was shot. This is a film with seeds of a seriously engaging feud squandered in digressions that are seriously disengaging.
