Lineman Movie Review: This social drama needs a more streamlined vision

2/5

Lineman plot:

In a village in Thoothukudi where salt pans serve as livelihood for people, lives electric lineman Subbaiah (Charle) along with his son Senthil. The latter invents solar power lights in order to take the burden off the linemen whose lives are in danger due to the illegal acquirement of electricity through water in salt pans. But Senthil faces obstructions when he attempts to take his invention to the government authorities.

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Lineman review:

In Tamil, there goes a phrase, “naadum naatu makkalum”, which translates to land and its people. Lineman is a story that delves into this. The Thoothukudi is the land, and the section of salt pan workers and linemen are the central people. If you think the film will delve further to highlight a facet of these people and their livelihood, you are in for a disappointment.

Lineman is a film about a single and doting father who wants his son to achieve dreams, his son who wants to better the lives of his people after his mother dies in a tragic event for which he is finding a solution, women in village who bear the brunt of patriarchy, corrupt officials who let go of those stealing current, that one benevolent collector who makes a climatic appearance and yet does not benefit the people, and a barrage of supporting characters that attempt to contribute to the narrative. However, unfortunately, Lineman becomes the case of too many cooks which results in a film that milks tragedy for its benefit.

We are introduced to the landscape of salt pan workers whose salt mining work is no joke. There are throwaway lines of accidents that occur after workers and linemen get electrocuted after some powerful men steal current from the transformers. We are never shown how the scheme of things happens, and it takes a while to understand the central conflict of the film. If not, we see Senthil who has invented street lights that can switch on by themselves, attempt to take his project to the chief minister and evidently fails to do so. An episode of him coming to Chennai, getting mugged, and alleged of a wrongdoing, are shown in an elaborate manner. But the pain of losing his mother which prompts him to take up this invention, is tucked in between dialogues for the audience to decipher and connect the dots.

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Lineman has veteran comic actor Charlie as Subbaiah, who may be uneducated but dotes over his son and encourages him at every step. If that is one-dimensional, the perpetrators, or rather the villains of the village, too are unidimensional. It feels like the film wants to milk the sympathies of the village a tad too much to tug your heartstrings, but in return only becomes a stereotypical tragedy that doesn’t let you inside its world of people.

Lineman verdict:

Lineman is a film that has its heart in multiple places. It neither lets you understand the world the characters are set in nor has a streamlined vision. Being all over the place, Lineman is an unclear vision to tell a story that requires a lot more nuances to be brought forward.