Bison Kaalamaadan movie review: Mari Selvaraj and Dhruv Vikram deliver a raw, hard-hitting drama that is beyond the sports ground

Bison Kaalamaadan movie plot:

Kitta (Dhruv Vikram) is a passionate kabaddi player hailing from Tirunelveli. His ambition to play for the country, begins with the real struggles that he must face on his own streets. With his father (Pasupathy) and sister (Rajisha Vijayan) by his side, Kitta must face harsh realities to come in terms of the path to his goal. Ridden with societal oppression and gritty violence, will Kitta represent the country that doesn’t count him as one among it?

Bison Kaalamaadan movie review:

In Mari Selvaraj’s world of filmmaking, his protagonists are the ones who go against the grain and all odds to be that first one to stand up for his people. Karnan from Karnan pelted stones at bus to stop, so that years later Pariyan (Pariyerum Perumal) could travel to college, which slowly paved way for an educated politician like Maamannan to grow. If Vaazhai, the story of young teens amid the banana plantations were before all this, then one can identify Bison to somewhere fall between Vaazhai and Karnan. When a young man who is beginning to realise his dreams, has the blood of an angry young man, and the fear from the first exposure of brutality, Bison becomes a story of passion and perseverance. Made in a typical Mari Selvaraj style, Bison exhibits certain freshness and different storytelling method.

Also read: Bison director Mari Selvaraj: If you are waging a war using an artform, you need patience

Bison is a story of a young man who has come from the lowered rung of the caste-ridded society. Kitta is guarded by his father (a fabulous Pasupathy) fiercely and discouraged from playing kabaddi. Not because he loathes the game, but because he wants to protect his son from the harsh realities his son will have to come in terms with, if he has to play with a team that can have potential discriminators. But Kitta manages to find his own set of good people, one of them being his professor, who goes great lengths to showcase Kitta’s talent on right platforms, and few others on his way to become a national-level athlete. Mari Selvaraj deviates from his usual style of narration, and yet chooses to retain some of his aesthetics in tact. A particular scene from Bison, which involves the protagonist and some characters in a bus, and an animal playing a crucial role, reminds one starkly of Karnan. Yet, the scene stands very much on the other end of spectrum even as both the sequences involve a conflict that witnesses the rage of protagonists. When Karnan showed an instigation to a revolution, Bison empathises with Kitta’s father who wants to stay away rather endure pain to progress. Probably why the theory of Karnan coming later to start a revolution, works.

Also read: Bison Kaalamaadan 2025: Release date, cast, OTT partner, plot, runtime; Everything to know about Mari Selvaraj-Dhruv Vikram film

The world of Bison, a film about folks who worship a local deity called Kaalamaadan, is fuelled by metaphors and rage that a bison possesses. Much like the animal, Dhruv Vikram’s Kitta too doesn’t get involved for most, unless the rubbed the wrong way. The rage burning inside him, is the calm before storm and Mari Selvaraj evokes it only when needed. Kitta’s relationship with his father, sister, his teacher, and even the girl he loves, Rani (Anupama Parameswaran) gets both restrictive and limited, that sometimes Kitta, a man of dedication and perseverance, can get lost in translation. Dhruv Vikram carries the role effortlessly convincing in parts that require only his body language to do the talking.

Bison isn’t free of drawbacks either. Unlike films like Karnan or Pariyerum Perumal, where the multi-character arcs work for the best, the cohesiveness in Bison goes missing. The currents that pass between Pandiyaraj (Ameer) and Kanthasamy (Lal) can get a bit too jarring, and what ties this to the protagonist, can be far stretched as well. The women from the world of Bison play the second fiddle.

Based on the life of real-life kabaddi player Manathi Ganesan, Bison never indulges in overtly cinematic liberties. As much as Mari Selvaraj’s tone stands out, the film also suffers from the lack of certain intricacies in the protagonist’s journey. Nevertheless, Bison is a film that is coming from Mari Selvaraj, which is different and same at the same time. With some interesting writing choices, and decent performances, Bison is both powerful and poetic in its own way.

Bison Kaalamaadan movie verdict:

Bison upholds the filmography of Mari Selvaraj, and becomes a powerful commentary about the politics within the sports sphere. There is an undeniable truthfulness that the film offers, despite Bison being a film that takes its time to connect and resonate. While Mari Selvaraj’s previous films earned empathy on the go, Bison Kaalamaadan takes while to get there. A solid attempt and story to be told, that comes with decent making and notable perks.