'Maaran' review: One feels sorry for the performer in Dhanush!
Dhanush's films have been heading the OTT way of late and after watching Maaran, currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, we understand why. Touted to be an investigative thriller(!), the movie revolves around Madhimaaran aka Maaran (Dhanush) taking on a powerful politician Pazhani (Samuthirakani), who is responsible for his sister's (Smruthi Venkat) death as he exposes the latter's dishonest activities. Here is our review.
The film is replete with cliches
Maaran's father Sathyamoorthy (Ramki) pays with his life for being an honest scribe. His introduction scene is enough to convince you he is going to die soon. The same goes for scenes with Venkat. You know she is going to die as well, but there is a twist that does not work. Novelty is fine as long as you don't intend for inadvertent humor.
Galaxy of stars wasted with no scope to perform
Though the role fits him like a glove, Samuthirakani plays a typical don masquerading as a politician. Leading lady Malavika Mohanan as Thara has a great dressing sense and good looks, but that hardly makes up for her lack of acting skills. "Master'" Mahendran is wasted—so is Ameer. GV Prakash's music is as effective as the film if you can read between the lines.
Maaran is old wine in old bottle
Maaran wants to report the news as it is—but he only wants to report "positive" news. By the time Dhanush's intro song is done, he becomes a hot-shot journalist so much so that even an inspector takes his help to crack a tip-off. We don't know how the cop holds a position in law and order if a journo has to do his job!
Dear logic, rest in peace
As much as journos can go about their jobs, you, dear reader, would know they cannot break into hotels and jig stuff that involves impersonating servers, despite being "investigative journalists." The only redeeming factor about Maaran is the two-hour runtime, but even that feels like an eternity. D seems to have given up on the film as, after a point, he hams it up.
Whatever happened to director-writer Karthick Naren?
Maaran is written and directed by Karthick Naren. After his debut film D-16 (2016), we thought he would be one of those new-age experimental directors. But he too has been caught up in the commercial storm—what's worse is that he isn't even good at it! The dialogues in Maaran sound very boring and the less we talk about the so-called "comedy" portions, the better.
Time to dust off and get cracking, D!
Maaran might be the worst thing to come out in recent times—not just from Dhanush but in the whole OTT space. Being an ardent fan of D, I would like to take the liberty and advise him to get back with the likes of director Vetrimaaran to give some earth-shattering gems. Maaran streams on Disney+ Hotstar. Verdict: It bags 1 out of 5 stars.
