Sarkar Movie Review

Cast: Thalapathy Vijay, Keerthy Suresh, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Radha Ravi, Pala Karuppiah, Yogibabu & others

Cinematography: Girish Gangadharan

Music: AR Rahman

Editing: Sreekar Prasad

Costumes: Deepali Noor & Pallavi Singh

Stunts: Ram – Lashman

Art Director: T Santhanam

Dialogues: Jeyamohan

Written & Directed by: AR Murugadoss

Produced by: Sun Pictures

Release Date: 06-11-2018

Run Time: 02:44:00

Sarkar is a finely packaged mass entertainer from AR Murugadoss and Vijay with topical political and social happenings that grabbed the headlines in Tamil Nadu over the last few years.

After watching the first half of the film, you can’t help but feel this is Vijay’s most satisfying, most improvised and attitude-driven performance, easily. The intro sequence track CEO in the house was replete with Vijay’s trademark swag, and effortlessly graceful moves. The first half is also packed with extraordinarily staged stunt sequences which are performed with high intensity by Vijay. Stunt duo Ram-Lakshman has packed a lot of enthralling and highly enjoyable moments for Vijay fans in the stunt sequences. Although the stunt scenes are slightly over-the-top, Girish Gangadharan’s thoughtfully crafted frames make it look a little believable on screen.

Sarkar is another earnest attempt from Murugadoss after Kaththi despite a bevy of flaws. Although the film sounded educative and a little preachy at specific instances, it was fairly engaging and makes you really think for a while, which I feel is the real win for the man. AR Murugadoss and Jeyamohan have delivered some of the best dialogues that connect emotionally so well and Vijay’s passionately rendered lines amped up the proceedings even further.

There are a handful of scenes which are forcefully fit into the screenplay to stir up emotions. Those are compelling, powerful scenes which stand mostly detached from the film and appear only occasionally connected to the story, organically. That’s another ineffective aspect of AR Murugadoss’ writing, which relies more on delivering sermons without a proper lead in the previous scene.

Radharavi, Pazha Karuppaiah, and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar are the letdowns in the film.  They are your usually villains from any random Tamil movie. Caricaturish, inadequate and their efforts were unavailing. The absence of a strong villain was very much felt in the second half despite Vijay trying his best to make it up with his electrifying screen presence. Girish Gangadharan deserves a round of applause for his brilliant camerawork, especially during the Ayodhikuppam scene, and the terrifically shot Oru Viral Purachiye. AR Rahman’s songs don’t add much value to the film except for Oru Viral Puratchiye. However, Rahman has produced a solid background score effort for the film.

On the whole, Sarkar is a true-blue one man show from Thalapathy Vijay all the way. He leads the pack by a mile. Whenever there’s a dip, it’s his assured performance which makes you sit up and take notice of the film. If the press meet is everyone’s favorite in Kaththi, the AyodhiKuppam sequence is sure to give everyone goosebumps. Vijay has come up with his most heartfelt performance by narrating a deeply affecting flashback involving his childhood and bringing up. Vijay surely knows how to win hearts with his whole-hearted performance whenever there’s an emotionally charged sequence.

Sarkar Movie Review Rating: 3/5

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