MANDAADI Review - Solid drama and gripping situations make it a worthy flick!

Ashwin Ram

 Premise:  Sathyaraj is a veteran in boat races, Soori and Suhas are his disciples. After a rift between them, they both challenge each other in the sport. The drama surrounding the tournament forms the crux of the story.

Writing/ Direction: Starts halfway introducing Soori as a lifeguard for a swimming pool, a well-thought contrasting profession from who he was in the past. Jumping into the story from the word go is always welcoming, but the beginning did feel rushed, however it is justified later on. The film travels in an intense mode throughout, with no big deviations. The storyworld is fresh, about boat racing tournaments and the business around it, set in the seaside backdrop, so the film tends to offer something different by default. The training sequences are presented as montages, from which we gain only minimum knowledge about the sport. The real detailing is done during the race through running commentary along with the visuals, after which the concept becomes easily accessible. The pre-interval staging is interesting for the big interval block that paves way for the flashback. The skeleton follows a familiar commercial formula, the substance here makes a huge difference. The writing is solid in terms of drama, the plot-points in the flashback are great, and they superbly connect with the present timeline, character arcs are first class too. The setup in the first half, the reasoning given in the backstory and the payoffs do wonders towards the end. Dialogues elevate the content to a vast extent, the choice of words based on the locality gives an authentic feel, the emotional ones and the buildup lines are satisfying. The climax could have been better, it is cinematic with VFX jumps in a few shots, thankfully there are moments to cheer that doesn’t deteriorate the momentum much.

Performances: Soori is so natural on screen, yet again he picks a tailor-made role by maintaining the nativity factor. He makes us route for him with his in-built innocence and there is an organic heroism around his character that strengthens his presence. Suhas on the other hand is menacing, he has pulled-off villainism believably, a bit overacting and screaming here and there, yet his performance in the flashback is earnest and character proceedings are convincing too. Sathyaraj perfectly fits in the shoes of a person to look up to, a vital character for the story that is written and conceived well, hence providing the needful impact. Mahima Nambiar is an apt casting choice, she strikes after RDX, also her character offers further depth to the protagonist from an internal point of view. Bala Saravanan’s jokes are enjoyable, the timing dialogues are clap-worthy. The performances of the young boys who are the driving forces of the story are on point.

Technicalities: None of the songs are likeable, even while watching along with the flow, since the audio tracks are highly unimpressive. GV Prakash Kumar’s background score is underwhelming too, despite having a worthy content in hand with plenty of good scenes, the music is such a bummer. This film has truly unleashed S.R.Kathir’s full potential, the scale is grand and the cinematographer has skilfully brought the vision to life with utmost passion. Slick cuts by the trendy editor Pradeep E.Ragav, especially during the nail-biting racing sequences, his creative cuts have properly translated the tension in the flow to the viewers. The usage of visual effects is thankfully less as the quality is half-baked, filming in live locations for the most part has also made the film look much better and bigger.

Verdict: A thoroughly engaging flick that has a lot of substance in terms of emotional stretches by placing enough purpose for the action. Music is a huge letdown, the different story backdrop and many well-written scenes are the major highlights.

MANDAADI - Solid drama and gripping situations make it a worthy flick!

Rating - 3.25/ 5.