The plot of Maareesan, directed by Sudheesh Sankar and written by V. Krishna Moorthy, gets needlessly side-tracked as it hits the second half, but it’s difficult not to stick around through the rest of the film, if only just to witness two masters of their craft share the small screen.
At a glance
Film: Maareesan (Netflix)
Director: Sudheesh Sankar
Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Vadivelu, Kovai Sarala, Vivek Prasanna, Sithara
Rating: ★★★☆☆
While conman Dhaya (Fahadh Faasil), and his victim Vela (Vadivelu) are engaged in a battle of wits, the two actors playing them are perfectly in sync. In fact, the very prospect of Faasil (or FaFa as fans lovingly call him) and comedic icon Vadivelu coming together is enough to get seats filled. Faasil easily slips into the lovable fool/reformed criminal archetype that catapulted him into national fame. In contrast, Vadivelu sheds his comedic identity, instead opting for a more subtle performance.
The dynamic between the two characters shines particularly in the first half of the film. Within the first three minutes (i.e. the span of the cheeky opening song), we get insight into how Dhaya operates as a conman, smooth talking and slinking his way around trouble. Fate brings him to Vela’s doorstep, a seemingly hapless man suffering from Alzheimer’s who needs to get to a location he can’t quite remember. More importantly (at least to Dhaya), he’s a goldmine.
It’s a winning combo that sets off a fairly straightforward money-making scheme and a road trip that binds both men together. But to truly enjoy this film, audiences will have to suspend their imagination for its two hour and 30-minute runtime. Dhaya’s shenanigans, whilst not out of this world, are carried out in a way that would most definitely (hopefully) alert the authorities in the real world. It’s also unclear exactly what stage of Alzheimer’s Vela is at, and his memory comes and goes in a way that lacks consistency.
The running question which keeps the film afloat is, why would a character like Vela, who is at times lucid enough to know that he is being duped, allow Dhaya to drive him around Tamil Nadu? Actor Vadivelu in this role, proves that he can truly go beyond comedy and portray a character with great depth. His performance continually suggests something just below the surface. So, when he says the line “Usually, it’s the snake that goes after the rat. But what if the rat walks right up to the snake…” you can’t help but wonder whether there’s more to his character than meets the eye.
Unfortunately, when this violent truth eventually gets revealed, it completely upends Maareesan’s initial road trip storyline. The reveal itself is guaranteed to divide audiences, but from an artistic viewpoint, the shift does little to elevate the film beyond what it was before. Vela’s motivations, shown solely to the audience, aren’t particularly interesting nor shocking, and more importantly, they are revealed all too early.
Whilst Dhaya is left piecing together the mystery of Vela’s true identity and the reasons behind his actions, the audience is waiting impatiently for his lightbulb moment. For a film that is marketed as a thriller and aspires to be a mystery, boredom is the worst audience reaction imaginable.
Beyond all this, as a film that spends its second half discussing sexual violence, it does very little to respect the women that it represents. These victims may be front and centre on the minds of the main characters, but they are rarely seen in the frame. On the rare occasion that this does happen, they are reduced to crying, wailing characters, helpless in the face of perpetrators and the police.
Its confused messaging veers it away from a film that could have just as easily been a fun, road trip film. One where two friends form a deep connection and later say their goodbyes as vastly different people. Instead, Maareesan, much like the mythical character it was named after, continually shapeshifts, but never truly finds itself.
