Kattalan

Sunil’s Maari sits at the throne of the business and has a big network of henchmen and minions to do his bidding. Maari has long been at loggerheads with Eddy (Kabir Duhan Singh). However, total control remains elusive with law enforcement constantly breathing down their necks. The film wastes no time in showing how they go about their business and setting up the rivalry between Maari and Eddy. An early action block shows the ease with which a younger Maari (Raj Thirandasu) and his gang take down elephants. Kattalan excels in the technical aspects throughout, especially in the initial portions. However, its overly familiar storyline keeps the film from realising its true potential. It is understandable why Paul George would trace the backstory of a younger Maari and Eddy, but it adds little weight as the film squanders all the build-up with a bloated second half.

Overall, Kattalan, is a mess of a film which was poorly written and directed. Apart from the breathtaking cinematography and slick action choreography, it offers nothing. The desperation to replicate the success of ‘Pushpa’, is to be seen throughout the film. At just around two hours in runtime, the film tests the patience and it gets very difficult to sit through after a point. There was a hint of a part two with Lokesh Kanagaraj as the antagonist. All we can say to the director and his team is ‘No. Thanks. We have seen Pushpa 2 already. We don’t need a part two for Kattalan. Bottomline – Poor Man’s ‘Pushpa’

The script of this movie is basically a collage of almost all the gangster films that have been released to date. The backstories of gangsters, the “Valayar Paramashivam” tactics of the hero, and the entry of unexpected helpers, they have basically done good research on what to extract from where. The only issue is that they have forgotten the fact that we have also seen all these movies. Hence, when we see the hero failing, we can clearly guess that it is a buildup. Just like Marco, in this movie too, we have certain characters who are shown as these massy, stylish villains, but their deaths have that unintentional comedy vibe.

Most violent Indian film ever.