Praise the Brave...& the Balancers

 I was surely wondering how Sudha Kongara can make an engaging film out of Captain Gopinath's aviation entrepreneurship journey. When seen at face value, it just seems like an underdog story which can be inspiring but hardly 'massy' to work across all centres in a state like TamilNadu. However, time invested in writing can never be overestimated. Over 2 years and several drafts (over 50 is what I heard) have clearly given the film an earthiness and relatability that is not at all easy to achieve for such a core plot. 

All controversies about the caste angle kept aside, I really liked the setup of a protagonist from Sholavandan which is very close to Madurai where I hail from. The story of making trains stop in this small non-descript town struck an in instant chord. During several trips from Chennai to Madurai or the other way around, I have been extremely annoyed at why the train needs to halt at this small station just a few minutes away from the Madurai Central Station. Sometimes, this is the place where a line change happens or we are waiting for another train to cross over (meter gauge days I think) & it's a painful experience when you're so close to reaching Madurai. However, giving this a business angle & pinning it back to the determination of a school teacher with a socialist mindset - is something I found to be such a cool yet fictionalized back story to justify Maara's ambitions with aviation. 

Everyone's been raving about the characterization of Bommi - and the significance of the wife in Maara's journey as it manifests in the film. While I agree, I also found a heavy Maniratnam hangover in her characterization & the exchanges between Soorya and Bommi at several points in the movie. The part where Soorya asks her 'Sothula vesham vechitiya' is but one example. I feel Sudha took the core from MR's style but managed to better it with Bommi here. Cheers to more such humanized woman roles in our movies. 

Despite being quite different from the regular fare, it's great that the movie managed to tick all the commercial boxes - songs and kuthu dance, rags to riches story of the hero, romance, thrilling action without choreographed fight sequences, family sentiments, a good dose of natural humor without a comedy track.

Structurally, this really worked to keep me hooked. Starting off with a bang of a flight crash (almost) really revved up energy with fingers crossed on what's going to happen next. The editing was stylized though jerky but I didn't hate it as I felt that it lent the energy needed to amplify and artificially accelerate the proceedings in a biopic like this one. Overall, the drama quotient is on the higher side and that's understandable given this was made for a theatrical release. Quite excusable considering what's been accomplished. 

Thanks for making our Deepavali filmy SP team and great job on the balancing act between mass & class Sudha!