Rudhran Movie Review: The revenge is against the audience

Raghava Lawrence is a genre by himself. By now, we know his films invariably carry references to his real-life philanthropy, his love for North Chennai, his dance moves, a 'cute' mother-son bond, and of course, a final hero-villain face-off amidst stoned aghoris. Rudhran has it all. If only they had added a dash of the supernatural and made the protagonist a phasmophobic, Rudhran would fit right into the Kanchana universe. However, even the semblance of investment and integrity present in the horror comedy franchise is nowhere to be found in Rudhran.

Director: S Kathiresan
Cast: Raghava Lawrence, Sarathkumar, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Kaali Venkat

While it isn't a surprise that this 'masala' entertainer has the same old ingredients, the unimaginative and repetitive packaging leaves us wanting for more. Nassar plays the generic hero appa, who forgets his anniversary and Poornima's hero amma is introduced with a pooja room shot. Priya Bhavanishankar's Ananya is the hero's love interest, who wins his heart by taking a selfie with homeless kids. In fact, these are the better-written characters in the film as they at least get a name. For instance, Redin Kingsley, who makes a brief appearance, is named Sketch. One might argue that it is a common name among gangsters. But wait till you meet Sketch's sidekick named after another stationary... Pencil! If you're someone who is intrigued by well-flavoured masala entertainers or revenge dramas, Rudhran has very less to offer. But what it offers the audience instead is the joy of predicting the upcoming scene, dialogue, and even the BGM right.

Whenever the film takes a break from being generic, it resorts to being confusingly regressive. During one scene, Rudhran's mother looks at Ananya and says, "Ne ivana love pandriyo illaiyo, epdiyavadhu enaku marumagala vandhudu." In another exchange, Rudhran casually announces, "Nee enna kalyanam pannitta, ennaala mattum dhaan sirippa, ennala mattum dhaan aluva." Though these convoluted ideas don't instantly come across as objectionable, we soon realise they are twisted on multiple levels.

Be it a Ghajini or a Naan Sigappu Manidhan, all the revenge sagas have had identical plot points when looked at macroscopically. The protagonist who is looking forward to the happiest phase of his life gets shattered into pieces by one night that changes his life forever and he goes after the man who caused it all. What makes these stories unique is the details that go into his pursuit of revenge. Here Rudhran is Kanchana on drugs from frame one, making human centipedes out of the baddies. The primary antagonist Sarathkumar tries his best to sell Bhoominathan as a dreaded gangster with his incredibly loud performance, but there is hardly any effect as Rudhran is hulk-smashing ferris wheels on the other end.

All the creative juices saved by the makers seem to have been channelised into the weirdly entertaining, gravity-defying, gory stunts. If you are someone who enjoys the guilty pleasures that comes with the Boyapati Srinu brand of fight scenes, you won't be disappointed on that front. The Pagai Mudi song, which has a major hangover of Kodiyavanin Kadhaya from Kanchana, where Rudhran and Bhoominathan literally bounce off the ground, syncing with the beats, is such an escapists' delight! How I wish the rest of the film too didn't take itself so seriously.