Madharaasi Movie Review

After scoring the biggest hit of his career with Amaran, Tamil hero Sivakarthikeyan teamed up with one of his favourite directors, A. R. Murugadoss, for an action thriller film titled Madharaasi. Due to unforeseen circumstances, director Murugadoss ended up directing Madharaasi and Salman Khan’s Sikandar simultaneously. Sikandar was released in March of this year and was a significant embarrassment for Murugadoss, as it failed at the box office. Although Sarkar performed reasonably well, it has been around eleven years since Murugadoss delivered a film that truly reflected his potential. At this crucial point in his career, where he needed a successful film desperately, the project with an in-form star like Sivakarthikeyan seemed like a golden opportunity for him to make a comeback. After generating buzz over the past few weeks, the film was finally released in theatres today. Did Sivakarthikeyan deliver yet another blockbuster after, Amaran? Did A. R. Murugadoss find his form with Madharaasi and bounce back with a resounding success? Was the in-demand actress, Rukmini Vasanth, able to score her first hit in Tamil after the not-so-successful film, Ace, with Vijay Sethupathi? Did the music director, Anirudh, score yet another hit with Sivakarthikeyan? Did the producer, N. V. Prasad, deliver a hit film with Murugadoss after the disastrous, Spyder? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

Raghu(Sivakarthikeyan), a young man who wants to commit suicide at any cost after the breakup with his girlfriend, Malathi(Rukmini Vasanth), meets Prem(Biju Menon), the chief of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), at a hospital. Prem along with his team members is on a mission to stop Virat(Vidyut Jammwal)and Chirag(Shabeer Kallarakkal) from distributing guns across Tamil Nadu. How did Prem use Raghu in his mission to stop Virat and Chirag? Why did Malathi break up with Raghu? Why did Raghu suffer from an illusion disorder? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Sivakarthikeyan plays the role of Raghu, a patient suffering from an illusion disorder and an earnest lover boy. As always, he delivers a strong performance. His comedy timing during the pre-interval sequence is a treat to watch on screen. The way he shifted his body language from being humorous to a serious tone during the pre-interval is very impressive. Rukmini Vasanth, in the role of Malathi, had a lengthy part and performed adequately. She looked good on screen. However, her performance could have been a bit better. It appeared as if like she was restricting herself to only a very few expressions.

Biju Menon delivered a good performance as Prem. In a crucial role as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief, he made his presence felt. Vidyut Jammwal, playing the character Virat, looked fit and menacing as always, and he delivered a solid performance. However, the true show-stealer in the film, after Sivakarthikeyan, was Shabeer Kallarakkal in the role of Chirag. He performed exceptionally well, showcasing ferocious and terrifying expressions during the action sequences, particularly in a close-up shot.

Technicalities:

Anirudh’s music is disappointing. The film features too many songs, and unfortunately, none of them are memorable. Additionally, his background score is excessively loud and largely reminiscent of his earlier works. It seems that the heavy workload is affecting the quality of his music. The background score for ‘Coolie’ was merely average and for Madharaasi’, it is a complete failure. Listening to Anirudh’s music for the film, it felt like a short break from accepting new films may do a world of good for him.

Sreekar Prasad’s editing leaves much to be desired. At least thirty minutes of runtime could have been trimmed to make the film more engaging, particularly in the second half. Sudeep Elamon’s cinematography is just ok. The excessive use of face blurring and fast cuts during the action scenes became quite irritating over time. The production values from ‘Sri Lakshmi Movies’ are subpar. Typically, Murugadoss’ films showcase high-quality technical values, but in ‘Madharaasi’, nearly all the technical departments delivered mediocre output. Let’s discuss more about the writer and director, A. R. Murugadoss’ work in the analysis section.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Decently Entertaining First Half
2.⁠ ⁠Hero Characterisation In the First Half

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Patience Testing Second Half
2.⁠ ⁠Never-Ending Action Episodes
3.⁠ ⁠Unnecessary Songs
4.⁠ ⁠Loud Background Score
5.⁠ ⁠Dragged Romantic Track
6.⁠ ⁠Editing

Analysis:

Twenty years ago, during a time when Indian audiences had limited exposure to world cinema, director Murugadoss created a sensation with his film ‘Ghajini.’ He skillfully incorporated the concept of short-term memory disorder into a fast-paced, action-packed thriller, showcasing a thrill-a-minute engaging screenplay. Unfortunately, the filmmaker over the last few years delivered a string of flops. The good news is that we get to see glimpses of good old Murugadoss’ brilliance during the first half of ‘Madharaasi’. The idea of using the ‘Fregoli delusion syndrome’ for the protagonist and building the screenplay of the film around it is very good. He may not be at his best but right from the very first sequence, we can see glimpses of peak Murugadoss here and there during the first half. Particularly, the hospital episode, the school shoot-out episode and the ten-minute pre-interval sequence, worked out in favour of the film. The phone conversation sequence during the pre-interval sequence is a testament to his writing and direction skills.

After a decently engaging first half, the film lost its track completely in the second half. The storyline of ‘Madharaasi’ works very well as a two-hour-long gripping thriller. Instead of making it as a thriller, Murugadoss tried to make a commercial entertainer by including a lengthy romantic track in the first half, unnecessary songs and overtly dragged action episodes. Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned elements worked out. In Ghajini, He was able to seamlessly incorporate a heart-touching romantic track with thrilling elements but in Madharaasi, he struggled to repeat the magic. Another drawback of the film is the unnecessary and uninspiring songs from Anirudh. The film has way too many songs and not even one song is good. The biggest drawback of the film is the endlessly dragged-out action episodes. The entire second half is filled with lengthy and pointless action episodes one after the other and tests the patience of the audience.

Overall, Madharaasi is a much better film compared to Murugadoss’s previous film, Sikandar. It has a partly engaging first half and a good story idea but the poorly executed second half with too many action episodes irritates the audience. You may give it a try watching in theatres if you are fine with watching a partly engaging film. The film proves that Murugadoss still has it in him to come up with a hit film but he needs to put extra effort and focus completely on one film at a time to make a comeback. For now, Madharaasi stands as a wasted opportunity.

Bottomline: Boring

Rating – 2.25/5