Amaran by Rajkumar Periasamy takes us close quarters through the life and love of Major Mukund Varadarajan. Adapted from a chapter of ‘India’s Most Fearless: True Stories of Modern Military Heroes’ by Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh, Amaran stays so close and true to its source material and the true life behind it. And that’s the telling factor of Amaran that helps it stand apart from the army-based movies we have had so far in Tamil.
The conviction to stay true to its hero, rather than making things more and more cinematic for the audience’s accustomed taste is where Rajkumar’s Amaran shines bright. Coming to the damn-perfect casting, Sivakarthikeyan and Sai Pallavi’s great chemistry makes us feel things a little more than the usual. It feels like we are hearing the love story of our new friend/colleague and how things appear different all of a sudden, even though it’s mostly the same meet-cute sweethearts entering into a dreamy wedlock that they dreamed of for long.
The film feels so rich in visuals. Capturing the landscapes of Kashmir with a sense of beauty and not devoid of its struggles is a good way forward for Tamil cinema’s technical superiority. The detailed operations of Major Mukund and his team are so well-crafted to the extent that it kinda feels like what Farhan Akhtar’s Lakshya did to the Indian youth of the early 2000s.
Yes, there are minor glitches in the way how this inspiring real-life was adapted to the screens, but when the end credits roll with Sai Pallavi/Indhu’s ‘There lived a man…’ montage, the shortcomings matter no more. The life and love of Major Mukund for his family, for his brothers in the army, for this nation, or just for the fun factor of serving the purpose of this short-lived life with utmost sincerity, this is a bittersweet tale of reaffirmation and selfless love, if there’s still such a thing exists.
As I read in some review, Amaran feels more like Vaaranam Aayiram than Vishwaroopam, and that explains a lot, I guess.
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