Writer and director: Hari
Cast: Vishal, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Samuthirakani, Yogibabu and Gautham Vasudev Menon
Available in: Theatres
Duration: 156 minutes
In Hari’s newest film, the violent Rathnam, Priya Bhavani Shankar’s Mallika casually drops a rather philosophical line. “There is no definition for good and bad,” she says, as she realises that the film’s eponymous hero (Vishal), dreaded as a violent gangster in Chitthoor, comes to her rescue when she is attacked by some violent goons. The line doesn’t make much sense early on but it is later solidified in another scene, when Mallika says that it’s solely the perspective that paints a moral picture of a person and their deeds. Perspective is a recurring theme in the film.
We see one act of violence, a police officer being attacked and murdered early in the film and the same incident is shown through a different perspective later, to tell us that this incident plays a bigger role in the story. Likewise, the opening scene of the film which involves a trio of bandits attacking a bus full of passengers, is unbelievably gruesome. While the scene made me wonder how the film was passed with a U/A certificate and is being considered a family entertainer, we eventually learn that it serves a larger purpose in the story, and isn’t there to just establish the villains. Even the murder that Rathnam commits as a child gets a different perspective later, even though it doesn’t land emotionally. While the thought that went into connecting the various ‘threads’ of the story is evident, what’s irksome is how loud the film is.