Director: Abbas A Rahmath
Writers: Abbas A Rahmath, Sasi, Vijay Kumar
Cast: Vijay Kumar, Avinash Raghudevan, Kaarthekeyen Santhanam
Duration: 139 minutes
Available in: Theatres
Abbas A Rahmath takes his time, building up the excitement for important sequences in Fight Club. This slow-burn effect is effectively used in many moments in this film (presented by Lokesh Kanagaraj), the best of which is felt in the very beginning when the protagonist Selva (Vijay Kumar) is introduced. Clad in an MS Dhoni yellow jersey, as he walks into a theatre, he gets an intro sequence that belongs to Rajinikanth, quite literally. You see Thalapathy is playing on the screen and just as the superstar makes his appearance with a massy fight in the rain, we see Selva thrash three men at the theatre. The scene gives such a powerful first impression that makes you want to root for the man in front of you, even if you don’t know a lot about him. We get back to this same scene at a later point in the film (thanks to its non-linear format) and this time effect works even better because you now know reason behind the simmering anger in his eyes.
This nonlinear style of filmmaking helps the story because otherwise, Fight Club might feel like your average tale of revenge with one too many fights. It’s a simple story. Set against the North Madras backdrop, when a football-loving kid’s mentor is murdered, so are his dreams. He grows up to become an angry young man trying to hold on to that distant dream when someone seeds the thought of revenge in him. Does his life take a different route?