Kodiyil Oruvan movie review: Logical loopholes galore in this Vijay Antony-starrer political drama which relies on age-old formula

2.5/5

Story: A young do-gooder hailing from a village lands in Chennai to pursue his dream of becoming an IAS officer. He faces a slew of challenges after unintentionally locking horns with a hooligan, a councilor and a politician. But he decides not to lose his temper and tolerates their behaviour for his mother who wishes to see him as an IAS officer. Will he be able to fulfil his mother's dreams?

Review: A do-gooder who goes on to become a revolutionary hero with the support of hordes of people, challenges the corrupted politicians and ends up as the ruler of the state. Well, we know that this is the synopsis of a few movies we have already watched in Tamil. 

Ananda Krishnan's Kodiyil Oruvan, starring Vijay Antony in the lead, is the latest movie which has a story revolving around the above-mentioned plot. Perhaps, it is the huge scope for mass scenes aka crowd-pleasing moments which prompts filmmakers to weave stories around this tried-and-tested formula.       

Vijaya Raghavan (Vijay Antony), an IAS aspirant who hails from Kambam, goes to Chennai to fulfil his dreams. His mother Arulmozhi (Divya Prabha), who was a councilor in her area in the past, wants him to win big in life come what may, as fate was cruel to her. An ambitious lady, she miraculously recovered from death-bed several years ago after a local big shot (Poo Ramu) sent his henchmen to finish her off. Reeling under the regret of not being able to serve the public, she hopes her son will continue the good works she intended to do.

Upon reaching Chennai, Vijaya Raghavan, apart from attending training sessions for IAS exam, starts taking tuition classes for students residing in his area who are weak in studies. This upsets a ruffian who has been using students for illegal activities. He locks horns with Raghavan and warns him not to educate the students. 

The manner in which Raghavan confronted the ruffian offends a corrupted councilor (Super Subbarayan), a notorious goon (Prabhakar) and a politician (Ramachandra Raju). The trio decides to finish him off, but Raghavan announces himself as the contestant for the councilor post there, leaving everyone surprised. Eventually, he ends up as a big headache for the criminal trio. Will they pose a threat to Raghavan, and can he achieve his goal amid this mess?

The idea looks good on paper, in fact, it has all ingredients required for a mass masala film. With someone like Vijay Antony headlining a project which has ample mother sentiment and massive scope for an engaging socio-political drama, the team could have made an edge-of-the-seat thriller. 

But what we get is a mish-mash of predictable sequences and ambitious, yet impractical ideas. We know it is a mass film made keeping in mind the frontbenchers as its target audience. But the artificiality in staging, ineffective making and weak character arc spoil the ambitious ideas. The protagonist goes on to become a councilor, an MLA and the state's Chief Minister in a jiffy. 

But the film works in parts because of the convincing performances of a few artists in it. Though Vijay Antony seems comfortable in his character, the sequences which require him to mouth loud dialogues go flat. Divya Prabha is quite convincing in the role of a concerned councilor and a doting, but fierce mother. The antagonists look scary in their appearances and behaviours, but their characterizations lack depth and the predictability factor mars the conflicts in several scenes. 

Poo Ramu impresses as one of the antagonists with his antics and body language. The female lead played by Aathmika is a joke, though. The cinematography by NS Udhaya Kumar is okayish, but the background score by Nivas K Prasanna could have been much better. Given the film has a clever plot, a tighter and engaging screenplay without loopholes would have made it a gripping fare.  

Verdict: An ambitious plot is let down by a mediocre screenplay and unconvincing staging. A few sequences entertain us, but it is nowhere near its potential. 

Kodiyil Oruvan is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.