Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Asuran: Raw and riveting
STORY:
Sivasami (Dhanush) is a middle-aged small farmer, who leads a content life with his wife Pachaiyamma (Manju Warrier), sons Murugan (Teejay) and Chidambaram (Ken) and a 5-year-old daughter.
When Murugan is about to enter wedlock, the family develops enmity with Narasimhan (Aadukalam Naren), a rich landlord from the upper caste and his sons.
As Narasimhans want to build a cement factory, they plan to grab the three-acre farm land of Sivasamis. The enmity between the two families grows, and Narasimhan bumps off hot-headed Murugan.
This is followed by the murder of Narasimhan, who gets killed by Chidambaram to take revenge for his brother’s death. Starts a bloody hunt by the relatives of Narasimhan, who want to kill Chidambaram.
But Sivasami and his family members including Pachaiyamma and brother-in-law Murugesan (Pasupathi) are ready to go to any extent to save Chidambaram.
ANALYSIS:
Asuran, the fourth in the combination of director Vetrimaaran and actor Dhanush after Polladhavan, Aadukalam and the recent Vada Chennai, is their best till date.
Inspired by Tamil novel Vekkai by Poomani, Asuran throws light into the caste system that prevailed in the southern Tamil Nadu from the 1960s to 1980s and how it boiled down into bloody battles.
Dhanush has delivered a terrific performance and the interval scene is one among the best mass scenes an actor can get in this kind of a movie. He has literally lived the life of Sivasami.
Manju Warrier, the Malayalam veteran, comes up with power-packed emotions. Pasupathi, Naren, Ken, Teejay and other members of the cast have done complete justice to their respective roles.
After a long gap, we get to listen a good score from G V Prakash Kumar. Velraj’s cinematography is dark and dangerous, for it transports us to the place where the movie unfolds.
On the flipside, the film is too much of violence and we wonder how it got the UA certificate from the Censor. To sum it up, Asuran is a story of and with blood and flesh. The film has got bright chances to win a few National Awards.
