AMARAN review

For those who have followed Sivakarthikeyan’s career from a TV host to his first big screen appearance and then his graduation to lead role, watching Amaran is like watching your child graduate. It is career redefining role for him and one he delivers with apparent ease.

Amaran is an emotionally charged military biopic about the life of Major Mukund Varatharajan (Sivakarthikeyan) who left an enduring legacy in the military and in the lives of all he touched. It traces the development of Mukund’s grounded relationship with Indhu (Sai Pallavi) despite numerous obstacles in their way. The film also recounts the brave and selfless acts of Mukund in the Indian military.

Biopics are seldom easy to make, and even harder to win box-office appeal, but Rajkumar Periyasamy delivers a perfect combination of technical excellence, brilliant characterisation, superb writing and some of the finest acting performances in a long time. What sets the film apart is the high emotive content which is achieved without histrionics, melodrama or long emotional monologues. Instead, Periyasamy has developed each character to great detail and used deft writing skills to create one of the best screen romances in a very long time. The realistic development, thoughtful scripting and tight screenplay all come together in a brilliant ensemble.

Sivakarthikeyan’s transformation in this film is astounding. From his physical fitness to his body language and gait, to his expressions, he plays Captain Mukund Varatharajan to chiseled perfection. Not enough can be said for the intensity of Sai Pallavi’s performance whose portrayal of Indhu will remain in Tamil film history as one of the most remarkable roles ever played. Apart from the moving individual performances, the on-screen chemistry between this pair is something to be marveled at.

Bhuvan Arora as Vikram Singh, Rahul Bose as Colonel Amit Singh and Geetha Kailasam as Mukund’s mother head an impressive supporting cast where events are often emotionally charged, but maintaining peak screen time.

This is by far the best performance by music composer GV Prakash Kumar. The songs blend in beautifully into the film’s narrative without creating a break from the screenplay. However, it is in the background score where GV Prakash Kumar truly impresses, heightening and complementing the emotion, instead of driving it.

It is hard to believe that this is the first film of cinematographer CH Sai whose camera angles, recording techniques, framing, use of filters and creative use of light would attract even the untrained eye. Together with editor, R. Kalaivanan, Amaran boasts an amazing palette and a masterful  capturing of the mood of each sequence.

Stunt directors Anbariv, Stefan Richter, Vicky Arora and Giorgi Larajuli have put together some amazing and realistic stunt and fight sequences that keep the viewer breathlessly engaged.

Produced by Sony Pictures India and Kamalhaasan’s Raajkamal Film International, Amaran is a film that reaches deep into one’s soul through the strength of its script, acting and cinematic excellence. It is impossible to be unmoved by the sheer power of the narration.

Amaran scores a full 10 out of 10.