Movie: Mahaan
Rating: 2.25/5
Banner: Seven Screen Studio
Cast: Vikram, Dhruv Vikram, Simha, Simran, Sananth, Muthukumar
Music: Santhosh Narayanan
DOP: Shreyaas Krishna
Editor: Vivek Harshan
Stunts: Dinesh Subbarayan
Produced by: SS Lalit Kumar
Director: Karthik Subbaraj
Release Date: Jan 14, 2022
“Mahaan” is a Tamil gangster drama that marks Vikram and his son Dhruv Vikram coming together. The father and son have played the lead roles in the film. Karthik Subbaraj of ‘Jigarthanda’ and ‘Petta’ directing this drama has raised expectations. The film premiered directly today on Amazon Prime.
Let’s find out its merits and demerits.
Story:
On his 40th birthday, Gandhi Mahaan (Vikram), a school teacher, decides to have a drink at a bar and enjoy life for a day. His wife Janaki (Simran) leaves him as Gandhi Mahaan broke the Gandhian principles. She heads for North India along with their son.
Abandoned by his family, Mahaan helps his friend Satya (Bobby Simha) in his liquor business. Satya and Gandhi Mahaan become billionaires.
Twenty years later, Gandhi Mahaan’s son Dada (Dhruv) comes to Vizag, bringing haywire challenges for the father.
Artistes’ Performances:
Vikram gets a role to exhibit his true performative skills, and he steals the chance. As a man caught between fatherly love and friendship, Vikram plays it with elan. Although his role is a little hazy, he gives his best, holds the film with his performance.
Dhruv Vikram enters the scene nearly after one hour. The young man is impressive. He lives up to the challenge of facing his father.
Bobby Simha as Satya lends emotional core to the story. Simran as Vikram’s wife leaves an impression. Vettai Muthukumar as the politician is another interesting performance.
Technical Excellence:
The camerawork and production design are the striking features among the technical department.
Santosh Narayan’s background score serves the mood, but the music, on the whole, doesn’t impress much.
Highlights:
Vikram’s performance
The final portions
The drama between father and son
Drawback:
The boring first hour
Predictable sequences
Weak flashback
Analysis
“Mahaan” begins with Mahatma Gandhi’s quotation – “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
The protagonist Vikram is also named after Mahatma Gandhi. The central point is about prohibition and the liquor mafia. So, the title Mahaan (meaning Mahatma) is apt. But the film is essentially a gangster drama revolving around a father and son.
Like oft-repeated gangster dramas, it follows the same path for nearly one hour focusing on the ways and means of the protagonist becoming a billionaire and building a business (illegal) empire with his smart thinking.
A middle-class teacher in the forties creates a liquor mafia gang. The first hour of the movie deals with this point.
The biggest problem with the first hour is that the drama is not at all engaging. Simran leaving her husband Vikram for the sole reason of drinking alcohol on his birthday is not convincing.
Furthermore, Dhruv Vikram developing so much hatred towards his father seems unrealistic. However, the film gets us involved when Dhruv enters the scene.
Dhruv’s dramatic entry sets the ball rolling. The confrontational scenes between Vikram and Dhruv are also handled well.
The main highlight comes when Vikram is caught between his son and his friend's son. Despite not having great moments, the second half makes an interesting watch. The final moments are told grippingly.
However, “Mahaan” suffers from a lack of a strong conflict point. The whole stretch of prohibition and Gandhian values, with flashbacks leading to 1968, gives a feeling of déjà vu.
A better conflict for the son and father would have made it more interesting. Simran’s re-entry into the story doesn’t make much impact.
Plus, the lengthy runtime is another minus.
In a nutshell, “Mahaan” doesn’t provide anything new with long predictable stretches, but Vikram and Dhruv make it watchable. It is another unexciting gangster drama from Karthik Subbaraj.
Bottom line: Nothing Mahaan Here!