Angikaaram Movie Review:

Success. In sports, overnight success is a perception problem. Be it as a team or an individual, nothing about sports is instantaneous. It requires physical prowess, mental strength, infrastructural support, and financial backing. In India, there is a sporting culture, but as it is said, success, more often than not, happens against all odds. And if the sport isn't cricket, the odds are even more insurmountable. In director Thenpathiyan’s Angikaaram, the protagonist is Aathiran Banumathi, a sprinter with dreams of representing India at the highest level possible. But when the system comes in his way, Aathiran (KJR) takes legal recourse to find his feet back on the race track. On paper, Angikaaram has all the makings of a compelling sports drama that lays bare the unfortunate nature of sports and its development in the country. However, the director’s decision to painstakingly spell out every issue plaguing sports leads him to forget stitching together a cohesive film.

Director: Thenpathiyan

Cast: KJR, Rama, Viji Venkatesh, Rangaraj Pandey

Aathiran and his cousin Sathya (Sindhoori) are elite athletes training under not-so-elite conditions due to their social and economic status. Nevertheless, under Coach Rudhra (Vasundhara Kashyap), they manage to end up winning races, and set record times. This doesn't sit well with the misfits at the State's sports association, who try their best to push their homegrown athletes instead of giving well-deserving runners a chance to shine. Through the training montage scenes, we are shown how many downtrodden athletes succeed despite the system. They are not given proper facilities, including running tracks, and electricity. They are treated as third-class citzens, and are insulted merely for daring to dream. Again, all of this makes for an important underdog story, but it seems like the filmmaker’s focus isn't to emotionally move you, but to make you first acknowledge the issue. Acceptance is the first step in enforcing a change, and Thenpathiyan firmly treads in that territory. However, he spends too much time in doing so that Angikaaram ends up being a treatise rather than a film.

The legal drama portion of Angikaaram is both its strength and weakness. While these are easily the most informative and influential portions of the film, it is also the most indulgent and overdramatic. While this allows Aathiran to dish out one data point after another about the dire straits of non-cricketing sports, it also pulls down the film by quite a few notches by going around in circles to drive home similar points. The film doesn't know where to stop the lecture, which is immensely educational, but isn't always engaging.

It doesn't help that the film is filled with one-dimensional characters, which includes Aathiran himself. We do know he has a doting mother, who works as a sanitation worker. He has a caring sister who is studying law. However, we know very little about Aathiran. Yes, his primary focus, or rather only focus, is to run, but who is he? In fact, we know more about the problems of his mother Banumathi (Rama) and sister (Isabella). The lack of respect for Banumathi profession and the kind of sacrifices she makes to feed her children is wonderfully showcased in the film. Similarly, the fiery Isabella aces the role of a young girl who had to grow up early to become a responsible woman of her house. She has her own set of problems, including a lack of accessible toilets, educational institutions being too far from home, a lack of convenient transport, and more. But these are relegated to footnotes in Aathiran’s journey to justice. While it is understandable in the overall scheme of things, having these detours would have made Aathiran more of a person and less of a stand-in. 

Also, for a sports drama about sprints, the film doesn't showcase these portions well. While it is understandable that there are only so many ways a 200m race can be picturised onscreen, Angikaaram needed a bit more finesse in these visuals. But all of this can be sidestepped mainly for KJR, who, in his acting debut, looks every inch an athlete, and kudos for the physical transformation. He also gets the vulnerable act right. But, barring that single-take monologue about the systemic rot in sports, and the step-motherly treatment of any game that is not cricket, KJR doesn’t quite get the meter of the role right in the legal drama portions, which make up half of the film. In fact, the problem lies with the writing as well because it puts too much on his shoulders. It is ironic that a film about recognition gives every other actor except KJR a raw deal, including Viji Venkatesh, who plays the Public Prosecutor arguing against Aathiran.

The final act, which relies heavily on shock value, is very much in line with whatever the film was trying. Angikaaram wants to break the audience out of perceived stupor. It wants people to be aware of the gross injustice meted out to sportspeople in the country. Even when throwing shade at cricket, KJR and Thenpathiyan ensure they are not antagonising any sport. But pertinent themes cannot be substitutes for compelling cinema. One can't move past the assembly line of scenes that feel lifeless just because it preaches the right things. There are so many scenes that act as fillers that bloat the film, instead of embellishing it. Nevertheless, as the credits roll, and we see real-life athletes question why the system that had to nourish, and nurture them, fails spectacularly on most days, we can't help but wake up to a stinging reality. 

They say nothing succeeds like success, but what if even this success isn't enough?