A MAARA beautifully shot film that explores a range of emotions

THE Tamil language remake of hit 2015 Malayalam movie Charlie premiered on Amazon Prime recently and is a romantic drama about one woman’s unusual search for something magical.

While escaping from a suitor, a free-spirited woman stumbles upon an inspiring artwork that prompts her to go on a journey to find the artist. Through the artwork, we find out more about the kind-hearted artist and with each story she slowly finds herself being drawn towards him. The storyfilled path slowly leads her towards the artist and enables her to learn some important life lessons.

Although not as accomplished as the original it is based on, this beautifully shot Tamil language remake injects the same kind of magic into the fairy tale-like story of two unconnected individuals. The nicely paced story filled with magical realism covers a range of emotions and has enough visuals to make you smile. There are also a host of memorable characters that keep you engaged until the end. Shraddha Srinath, who may not be familiar to most, is outstanding in her role and largely holds the story together. Seasoned performer R Madhavan is reliable enough in his role and will delight all those who love his work.

They are ably supported by a strong enough cast and a beautiful setting. On the downside, some may find the story a bit slow and will notice the lack of drama, but die-hard romantics will appreciate what this film is trying to do. Maara is also not as magical as its Malayalam source material Charlie and could have been a little shorter. That shouldn’t stop you from finding this feel-good film, which is another sign that there is far stronger content coming out of regional Indian cinema than commercial Bollywood right now. You will likely want to find the multi-award winning original starring Dulquer Salmaan after watching