STORY:
Senapathy (Prakash Raj) is Chennai’s biggest don who has interests in various businesses, both legal and illegal. He has three sons- Varadhan (Arvind Swamy), Thiyagu (Arun Vijay) and Ethi (STR).
While Varadhan is the Man Friday of Senapathy and stays with him, Thiyagu and Ethi take care of the family’s businesses in Dubai and Serbia, respectively. Varadhan is married to Chithra (Jyothika), Thiyagu to Renu (Aishwarya Rajesh) and Ethi is in love with Chaya (Dayana).
Besides, Varadhan has an affair with another woman (Aditi Rao Hydari) and his close friend is Rasool (Vijay Sethupathi), a suspended police officer. One day, Senapathy and his wife (Jayasudha) are brutally attacked by a duo posing as cops.
Varadhan informs his brothers about the incident and both Thiyagu and Ethi come to India. The trio start hunt to track down the assailants. In the meantime, Senapathy dies and the three siblings are now involved in a bitter battle for the throne.
ANALYSIS:
Who said Mani Ratnam has lost his filmmaking charm? Chekka Chivantha Vaanam is the director’s answer to those critics who wrote him down, as the movie is a adrenaline pumping action saga.
However, the director has deviated from his proven path of visuals and romance. Instead, he has focused on characters, dialogues and conflicts. And we have to say he has succeeded.
All the four protagonists- Arvind Swamy, Vijay Sethupathi, Simbu and Arun Vijay- have been given equal space and all four them have delivered their best. But it’s Vijay Sethupathi’s performance as Rasool which sticks to our heart.
Though there are many female talents including Jyothika and Jayasudha, they don’t have much screen space. If this is the case of the two Js, you could easily imagine the plight of Aishwarya Rajesh, Aditi and Dayana. Thiyagarajan as the family’s rival shines.
Mani Ratnam always trusts his cinematographer and music composer a lot. Here in CCV, Santosh Sivan and A R Rahman have neither disappointed the director nor the viewer. For, both of them have come up with their best work in the recent times.
On the flipside, we could not avoid the feeling that the plot could have had more depth as things just stay on the surface. But, there is no denial that CCV is a winner from Mani Ratnam.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Chekka Chivantha Vaanam: Red & good
Director: Mani Ratnam
Music Director: A. R. Rahman
