Hari attempts to reinvent himself
In his latest outing with Vishal, the director tries to adapt some of his tropes to the sensibilities of the modern-day audience
Tamil masala moviemaking has evolved so much that even the idea of watching a Hari lm like Rathnam in 2024 seems fascinating. Here’s a lmmaker who refuses to let go of his signature style when there’s hardly any contemporary attempting anything similar.
Unfortunately in Rathnam, even when Hari is visibly giving his all to make a captivating actioner to reintroduce his style, only the intrigue in how he
Rathnam (Tamil)
Director: Hari
Cast: Vishal, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Murali Sharma, Yogi Babu, Jayaprakash, and more
Runtime: 156 minutes
Storyline: When a young woman is attacked by goons, a local rowdy steps in and strives to protect her. But why does he protect her? plays up his tropes hooks you up more than the lm itself. And while he adapts some of his tropes to the sensibilities of the modernday audience, the ideas still belong in the 2000s.
The very story that the lm chooses to tell seems archaic. In a town bordering Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, a rowdy named Panneerselvam (Samuthirakani) raises a young teen named Rathnam after the latter saves his life from his enemy. In the present day, when Panneer becomes an MLA, he chooses the now grown-up Rathnam — Vishal — as his go-to man. Things take a turn when Rathnam saves a young woman named Mallika (Priya Bhavani Shankar), an aspiring medical college student, from a gang of rowdies from Andhra. We soon realize that Mallika’s father Vedha Nayagam ( Jayaprakash) is embroiled in trouble as the nefarious landgrabbing moguls are after his land.
Now, why does Rathnam go to such great lengths for a stranger? At a time when a viewer might have even forgotten the period when lms repeatedly used the idea of a doppelganger to serve up a twist, Hari shocks you.
Over-the-top melodrama, ineective punchlines, excessive use of background score, scenes straight out of a television soap to appease “family audiences”...even when he’s trying to renew himself, the result remains as outdated as it can get.
Rathnam is currently running in theatres