Director: Cibi Chakravarthi
Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Priyanka Arul Mohan, SJ Suryah, Samuthirakani
Don starring Sivakarthikeyan is Cibi Chakravarthi’s directorial debut. Sivakarthikeyan plays a character also named Chakravarthi, or more popularly, ‘Don’.
In the opening sequence, we see Chakravarthi embarking on a perilous road trip across the Kerala-TN border battling dark highways, storms, forests and even elephants! We understand he wants to reach his old college’s graduation day function on time. We know little about him at this point, but going by his swanky car, we assume he must be famous and must have been invited as a chief guest. There’s a nice little surprise waiting for us in the end when we find out the real reason.
Chakravarthi narrates his life story as a flashback during the roadtrip. We travel back with him to his college years. Like thousands of others, Chakravarthi is forced to join an engineering course by his parents against his wishes. His complete disinterest in the course, coupled with the college’s highly inflexible and dated rules, drives him to become the rebel of the batch. A series of mischievous larks make him highly popular among his fellow students who confer upon him the nickname ‘Don’.
Don faces a nemesis in Bhoominathan (SJ Suryah), who is a flag bearer of discipline and the principal designate. Playful pranks escalate into a bitter feud as Don and Bhoominathan swear to bring each other down. In the midst of these tensions is also Don’s stuttering love life. Making matters worse is the immense pressure from his father to excel in academics. The rest of the movie is predictably about how Don navigates these situations and finds a real passion to pursue.
The core plot in Don is anything but unique. An engineering student who finds his passion in filmmaking-does that ring a bell? If VTV was the first film that came to your mind, you would probably find it fitting that Gautham Menon himself plays a cameo in Don.
But these coincidences aside, Don still worked for me in spite of a familiar narrative. The magic lay in the treatment. Take the first act for example. This whole stretch where Don and his friends face off with the college professors is genuinely funny for the most part. A lot of this is down to the casting. Seasoned character artists like Munishkanth and Kaali Venkat are terrific with their timing and body language. Radha Ravi, Bala Saravanan, George Maryan and Soori add their comic expertise to this milieu.
SJ Suryah is omnipresent these days. And he seems to be playing at a higher level with each film. Its no different in Don. He is in scintillating form as the formidable Bhoominathan. His typical eccentric dialogue delivery coupled with his chilling demeanor is a treat to watch.
Priyanka Arul Mohan plays Angaiyarkanni, Sivakarthikeyan’s love interest (a Doctor reunion of sorts). I was half expecting a cliched romantic track and was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case. Specifically, I loved a small stretch that was a flashback within the flashback. Chakravarthi and Angaiyarkanni experience their first rift in this stretch that is set in their high school years. The way this was built up, especially in how both of their fathers were involved, was inventive and well executed.
Speaking of fathers, the film ends with a tribute to parenting and parents. Samuthrakani plays the role of Don’s father and it’s safe to say that their relationship is strained. This particular track gains in prominence as the film nears its climax. Though at times overcooked, I loved how eloquently the director managed to capture the complex emotional dynamics in play. Actually, there’s also a somewhat understated, but similarly impressive track that runs between Angaiyarkanni and her father, who is a police officer and a single parent. The nuances of this relationship were very well showcased too.
When you look back, the sheer number of themes Don (the film) touches upon is mindboggling. There’s parenthood, student life, career paths, romance and in a meta way, even filmmaking. But its again a credit to the debutant director that the film comes together as a coherent whole. Its not perfect of course. For instance, I felt some of the songs need not have been shoehorned in just to play to the gallery. But overall, Cibi Chakravarthy has definitely passed his entrance exam to Kollywood.
Overall rating: 3/5
