Starring: Vignesh, Monica, Sathyaraj, Yuvarani, Ramesh Kannah
Direction: Sanjairam
Music: Dheena
Production: Sanjairam

Rating:

Gowravargal, the name itself gives us the picture of a pretty royal feud for power and many other things and that is what the movie is all about – many men; their conflicting interests and principles; the resulting clashes and the lives that get caught up in this vortex.

The movie starts off by portraying Sathyaraj as a man above the law who does justice for the public – something like Nayakan and Sarkar. As expected, he has many henchmen, hitmen and friends in positions of power. But, such friendships do not last for long. A small misunderstanding and the refusal of Sathyaraj to budge from his principles make one such friendship turn into a feud. Meanwhile, the arrival of power and authority, a parallel developing triangle love story and another story of the desire for power and position literally multiply the number of enemies that Sathyaraj has. How does he manage to counter them, what happens to the people in power and how does the love story end? That is the crux of Gowravargal.

Perhaps standing true to the Mahabharata where there are a 101 Kauravas, this film too has a multitude of characters who want nothing more than power and revenge; are ready to do anything for it, even if it be making his/her sister forcibly enter into marriage. But, the similarity ends there. If the director had envisaged any other parallels to the great epic they definitely do not reflect here. In fact, the screenplay makes the movie look like an oft repeated tale of love, power and revenge. The characterization of almost every person who appears in the movie is either incomplete or inconsistent which makes it impossible for the viewer to sympathize or connect with any of the proceedings on screen. There also seems to be a tug of war going on in the mind of the director about the focus of the script – whether it should be on the power and revenge side or on the love angle (even though the two are ultimately connected). There are a few scenes that seem to be the build up towards a twist or a riveting sequence of events but then peter out into nothingness and one is left wondering why there was such a ‘build up’ in the first place. The regular clichés of gangster flicks are all here too – the rough and tough men with beards, men shouting in hoarse voices at the drop of a hat etc….

As said above, character sketches are either inconsistent or incomplete which handicaps all the actors on screen. Even the experienced Sathyaraj fails to make an impression. Vignesh tries hard as Sathyaraj’s henchman who is also in love, but there is nothing that allows him to score. Ranjith does the ‘stiff upper lip’ stuff as the police officer while Monica does the usual heroine stuff of looking good and scared in alternations.

Technical aspects do not even threaten to rise above the average. Music, camera, action or anything else that one can think of seems to of the standards that have been present since the start of the decade. Overall absence of novelty in all facets – concept, scripting, characterization and technicalities make this movie a rather trying experience for the viewer.

There really seems to be a lack of focus or ambition in keeping up with the current standards and trends of Tamil cinema. As a viewer, there is very little that one can take home from such a viewing experience.

Verdict: Outdated