Parasakthi Review

After creating sensation with, Soorarai Pottru(2020), the director, Sudha Kongara, teamed up with, Sivakarthikeyan, for ‘Parasakthi’, a film based on the anti-Hindi imposition movement in Tamilnadu in the 1960s. The film was initially announced with Suriya and Dulquer Salmaan in 2023 and then shifted to Sivakarthikeyan and Ravi Mohan in 2024. After scoring his career’s biggest blockbuster in 2024 with ‘Amaran’, Sivakarthikeyan, faced a setback in 2025 with ‘Madharaasi’. He was expected to get back onto the success track with ‘Parasakthi’.

The combination of Sivakarthikeyan and Sudha Kongara, raised expectations and it was expected that the duo would come up with a sure-shot hit film. After facing a few issues while completing the censor formalities, the film was released in theatres today. Did the director, Sudha Kongara, deliver yet another hit film, after Soorarai Pottru? Did Sivakarthikeyan, get back onto the success track, after delivering a flop with Madharaasi in 2025? How did Ravi Mohan, perform in the antagonist role? Did Sreeleela, score a hit with her debut Tamil film? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

The film is based on the anti-Hindi imposition movement in the 1960s in Tamilnadu. How the lives of two brothers, Chezhiyan & Chinnadurai, were affected during the students’ movement against the Hindi imposition by the central government of India in the 1960s, is the crux of the story. Why did a fierce student leader, Chezhiyan, decide to stop the fighting against Hindi imposition and live a peaceful normal life? How do the circumstances pull him back into the fight against Hindi imposition? Why is a half-Tamil, intelligent bureau officer, Thirunaadan, hellbent on destroying the anti-Hindi movement? How did Chezhiyan, eventually make his and his people’s voice heard by the central government of India? Forms the rest of the story.

Performances:

Sivakarthikeyan in the role of Chezhiyan, a student leader and an affectionate brother, delivered a good performance as always. Particularly, he delivered a very commendable performance in an emotional sequence. Ravi Mohan in the role of Thirunaadan, a ruthless intelligent bureau officer, did well. He played an out-and-out antagonist role for the first time in his career and he used the opportunity very well.

Atharvaa in the role of Chinnadurai, came up with a decent performance. Sreeleela in the role of Ratnamala, was good in playful sequences but her performance during the emotional sequences, would have been better. Kulappulli Leela, in the role of grandmother, delivered a very good performance.

Bollywood actress, Sandhya Mridul, played the role of Indira Gandhi. Her look was perfect. She almost looked like Indira Gandhi, but her performance was just adequate. Crucial cameos by Rana Daggubati, Basil Joseph, and Daali Dhananjaya, during the pre-climax, instilled some life into the otherwise dull film.

Technicalities:

G. V. Prakash Kumar, elevated a few sequences with his background score but better care should have been taken while composing songs. None of the songs in the film worked out. Particularly, the romantic song composition and its placement, tested the patience during the first half. Cinematography by Ravi K. Chandran, is too notch as always. The production design and the cinematography, were able to give the film a very authentic 1960s period feel.

Sathish Suriya’s editing is one of the biggest negatives in the film. Especially, the leisurely paced, about one-hour drama, in the first half, should have been edited in a much better way. Altogether, at least twenty minutes of the film, could have been edited to make the film a bit more engaging. Production values by, Dawn Pictures, are first-rate. The producers seemed to have trusted the hero and director’s combination and arranged all the required resources.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Decent Pre-Climax
2.⁠ ⁠A Few Engaging Sequences
3.⁠ ⁠Cinematography

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Painfully Slow Narration
2.⁠ ⁠Lack of Emotional Connect
3.⁠ ⁠Excessive Length
4.⁠ ⁠Inconsistent Writing
5.⁠ ⁠Boring Romantic Track
6.⁠ ⁠Songs
7.⁠ ⁠Poor VFX In Climax Action Episode

Analysis:

Tamil film directors are known for making social drama films in a very hard-hitting manner by using very emotionally driven relatable writing and brilliant technical values. We are not against Hindi or Hindi people. We are only against Hindi imposition on us(Tamil people) – is the core point of the film. When a director like, Sudha Kongara, who earlier made a brilliant film, Soorarai Pottru, chooses the aforementioned plot for making a film, the least the audience expects is an emotionally charged film. But, unfortunately what we get to see is a film that is painfully boring and has slow narration with very few engaging moments. It is not an easy task to come up with a film against Hindi imposition, in the current political scenario in India. The writing of such a film should be engaging and at the same time, should not go overboard. It gets very difficult to avoid controversies and get the censor certification, if the writer and the director go overboard with such a sensitive point. An engaging and balanced writing was the need of the hour and it is where the film, lost track. It looked like the damage to the film was done at the writing table itself.

There is a sequence where a group of old women from 1960s Tamilnadu, go to a post office to send money orders to their grandkids and find out that the central government of India, passed an order to print money order forms in Hindi. Since none of them, including the clerks at the post office, understands Hindi, they were unable to fill the form and return home, without sending the money orders. There are two other sequences in the film, where the protagonist loses two of his close people and in another sequence, a person kills himself, after the chief minister of the state rejects his plea to conduct the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams in Tamil or English instead of Hindi. All the aforementioned sequences have the potential to establish a strong emotional connection with the audience but unfortunately, it was not the case. At no point did we, the audience, connect with the struggle the characters in the film, went through. It is because the writing is half-hearted. It was a surprise to see Sudha Kongara’s film with such substandard writing.

The director opened the film with an exciting sequence & ended the first half with a predictable yet engaging pre-interval sequence. But, the drama between the opening and the pre-interval portions was handled in a very flat manner, without any emotional connection. The boring narration continued in the second half too until the pre-climax. There was an attempt to engage the audience during the pre-climax of the film by bringing three notable actors from three different states of India. But by then, the damage was already beyond repair, and the director could not save the film. There were a few engaging sequences here and there but they are far and few in between. What we get to see is a boring and forever dragged drama with no excitement whatsoever. It looked like the thoughts of the director, Sudha Kongara, were stuck between ‘the freedom of expression’ and ‘finding an escape route to bypass the censor certification’, at the writing table.

Overall, the core point of, Parasakthi, had the potential to become a very engaging film but the poor writing and boring execution, made it a disappointing one. Barring a few moments here and there, the rest of the film tests the patience and makes it hard to sit through.

Final Verdict – Lost In Translation

Rating – 2/5