Wasting no time to introduce the hero and the villain of the story, Viruman opens with a shot where a son with a knife, chases his father to kill him.
Why this rage? Why would he want to kill his own dad? What happened in the past? Will their bruised relationship find a happy ending? Director Muthaiah answers all these questions while strictly adhering to the ‘rural action drama’ template - mass introduction scene of a hero flexing his muscles, slow motion action sequences, screenplay loaded with passable jokes, some powerful and many melodramatic emotional dialogues.
The film delves into how Viruman (Karthi) grapples with the traumatic pain inflicted by his father Muniyandi (Prakash Raj), an avaricious and egoistic man reeking of autocracy and misogyny. Viruman’s dead mother (Saranya Ponvanan) appears in flashbacks and forms the underlying thread that keeps the storyline alive.
Viruman succeeds mostly in highlighting the importance of familial bonds and how one should aim at repairing and not throwing away broken relationships.
Prakash Raj who is the poster child or rather, the poster dad, of Tamil cinema, convinces you to hate him with his realistic performance.
Soori who recently revived his comedic timing in Sivakarthikeyan’s Don, has shined well in Viruman too. Breaking the monotony, his humor works mostly, helping the film engage with the audience better.
However, most of the conflicts are conveniently resolved in the Viruman world and the chain of events that follow are predictable too. For instance, the relationship arc of Thaenu (Aditi Shankar) and Muniyandi, Viruman and an MLA, or the way Prakash Raj enters the climax venue, none of them are very convincing.
However, Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music and background score is a huge savior to the audience while we see Karthi saving Viruman with his exceptional performance. With similarities in look and behaviour, Karthi as Viruman unintentionally has shades of Paruthiveeran and Dilli from Kaithi. Daughter of legendary director Shankar, Aditi Shankar makes a confident debut.
With melodrama and some archaic portrayals, Viruman scrapes through as a rural family entertainer. The film, bankrolled by Suriya's 2D Entertainment is running in cinemas now.
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