Maaran movie review: This badly written and executed Dhanush-starrer is a complete yawn fest

1.5/5

Story: A daring journalist locks horns with a powerful politician and exposes his notorious activities before the public, leaving the latter furious. But little did the former know that he had to pay the price for it. The politician takes revenge on him in a cruel manner. How's the journalist going to handle it?  

Review: Director Karthick Naren is someone who made heads turn with his debut flick Dhuruvanga Pathinaaru at the age of 22. The movie is still considered as one of the best thrillers with a breathtaking climax twist in the history of Tamil cinema. His subsequent projects, Mafia and the last outing, Project Agni, (a segment of the popular anthology Navarasa), though received mixed response, weren't bad.

Film lovers still had high hopes for him when he announced Maaran with Dhanush playing the titular role. Unfortunately, the film ends up as a terrible disappointment, making it the weakest movie in his career.

Mathimaaran (Dhanush) is a journalist who isn't scared of writing truth which makes others uncomfortable. He has never had a long stint in his career because of his in-your-face attitude. After being jobless for a while, Maaran joins a news channel after displaying his talent before the editorial team during the interview.  

He takes up a case related to a big scam which has Palani (Samuthirakani), a former state minister, involved in it. Palani is contesting in the upcoming by-election and is hell-bent on winning it at any cost. Maaran, along with Thara (Malavika Mohanan), hatches a plan to trap Palani.

The shrewd politician decides to finish off Maaran, but the latter smartly escapes from murder attempts a couple of times. A peeved Palani changes his plan and kidnaps Maaran's sister. Will he be able to save his young sibling from the clutches of the notorious politician?

There are several examples where effective screenplays have made regular revenge stories and cat-and-mouse games that are as old as the hills gripping. Maaran, too, has a wafer-thin story, which is sadly made worse with a terrible screenplay which offers no takeaway for viewers.

To begin with, no single character development has been worked effectively because of which we hardly empathize with the problems the protagonist undergoes. It is often said in the film that Maaran is a daring investigative journalist who is also quite intelligent. But there isn't any scene which showcases the character's smartness or adventurous nature.

The antagonist played by Samuthirakani leaves no impact, thanks to the lack of detailing on the character. This has made the hero-villain conflict unimpressive. Despite a shorter run time of 2 hours and 10 mins, we lose interest in the proceedings mid-way. There are a couple of twists created for the namesake and those unexpected moments hardly evoke any interest among the viewers.    

Maaran is the latest Tamil film which has a plot involving a brother-sister bonding. Despite developing a not-so-bad flashback in the beginning which establishes their solid relationship, the equation between them falters after a point because of the directionless screenplay. A scene in which Smruthi Venkat talks about her boyfriend to Dhanush is likeable, though.

Malavika's female lead role started off on an interesting note, thanks to the absence of love at first sight scenes and mandatory romantic songs. But this character, too, is ignored as the story progresses. Actors like Aadukalam Naren, Ilavarasu and Master Mahendran do not have much to do. A cameo by an actor-filmmaker in the pre-climax and an emotional portion involving a father-daughter falls flat. The fight sequences by Silva are okayish, while cinematography is unimpressive. The background score and songs, too, do not impress.

Some of the disappointing films which feature a big, talented hero end up becoming watchable in parts because of the actors' presence or due to the impressive manner in which they have pulled off their character. However, in Maaran, a gifted performer like Dhanush, too, looks clueless because of the criminally boring writing and execution.  

Verdict: This is one of those badly made movies which has nothing to offer to the viewers. Avoid!

Maaran is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.