Review: Savarakaththi

Film: Savarakaththi

Director: G R Aathityaa

Cast: Ram, Mysskin, Poorna, Ashwath, Mohan and others

Music: Arrol Correli

Cinematography: V I Karthik

G R Aathityaa, who makes his debut as a director with Savarakaththi, has had a tight rope to walk. He has had to make a comedy with two of Tamil cinema’s most respected directors, known for their rebellious nature, playing the lead. And to his credit, he has managed to pull it off.

Savarakaththi is funny. At least, parts of it are. The film proves that Mysskin can also write comedy scripts. True, his comedy scripts may not be as classy or as brilliant as his thrillers or investigative scripts but they do have potential and they succeed in their mission of evoking laughter to quite an extent.

Pichai (Ram) is a barber who is an obsessive compulsive liar. The man has a pregnant wife Subadhra(Poorna), who has difficulty hearing, and two small kids to take care of. One day, Subhadra, who is in her final stages of pregnancy, comes to Pichai’s shop along with her kids to inform him that her brother is about to wed a girl with whom he has eloped. She wants Pichai to accompany her to her brother’s wedding. The couple and their kids set off on Ram’s old bike and that is when ill luck strikes.

Just as they are on their way, a four-wheeler that is driven rashly by a bunch of gangsters makes Pichai almost lose his balance. He reacts in the typical manner most motorists on the city’s roads would. He gets down from his bike, goes to the vehicle and hurls abuses and threats. He even raises his hand to strike a blow to the man sitting in the front seat. However, he stops short of doing so. Little does he know then that the man he has been threatening is a feared gangster Manga (Mysskin), who is out on parole and who has to go back to prison by 6 that evening.

Even as Pichai continues to boast of his ability to thrash people to Manga, who until this point is watching in silence, another car comes from behind and rams Manga’s car. Pichai, by now, is exhausted and decides to leave. Soon after he leaves, the gangsters in the vehicle are shocked to see their boss, Manga, bleeding profusely. They convince Manga that Pichai actually struck a blow and his bleeding was the result of that blow. Only one member of the gang tries to reason with Manga telling him the bleeding must have been the result of the other car ramming into their vehicle. However, Manga is now in furious. He wants Pichai’s head…

Mysskin’s performance is brilliant. The man, who has scored many times as a director, scores as an actor in this film. He easily fits the character and plays it so effortlessly. Ram has a little bit of difficulty getting into the groove initially. But then, eventually, he finds the correct scale and then from that point on, does a neat job. In fact, both Ram and Poorna do a neat job in the second half of the film.

The film has sequences in which people are stripped and beaten and this might not go down well with family audiences. Also, the film has cuss words being used quite generously. All of these might not augur well for the film.
That apart, comedy is all about timing and surprise. There are some sequences in the film, in which either, the timing or the surprise element is missing. Had the director got that right, the film would have had an even greater appeal.

Arrol Correli as always is brilliant with his background score in this film. The man lifts the film to a different level altogether. The lone song too is melodious and soothing.

Karthik does a decent job with the camera. Editor Julian keeps the film to just about 2 hours and that works big time in favour of the film.