Maaveeran

Director Madonne Ashwin has taken a simple story of a man finding courage during dark times and made it into a comedy that left the theatre echoing rousing cheers and loud laughter.

It's a time in our cinema when talented filmmakers like Madonne Ashwin are showing that they are unafraid of punching up. This film asks questions of slum resettlement policies and how they are executed, while not losing sight of being an accessible entertainer... there's so much to like—including how the voice-overs are never allowed to get tedious or monotonous—that I have no hesitation forgiving it for the lapses.

'Maaveeran' is easily one of the best-made films of this year so far. It is also interesting to see the hero play a coward as opposed to a man with superhero powers. 'Maaveeran' is yet another solid entertainer that makes you enjoy and retrospect.

Madonne Ashwin's Maaveeran is laced with a gripping screenplay, hilarious one-liners, mass moments and some fantastic performances. In short, Maaveeran is a delight to watch.

The simplicity of the idea is brilliant, and Ashwin succeeds in executing it with only a few bumps along the way. Sivakarthikeyan has certainly grown as an actor, and the action choreography in the film is its highlight. The pacing of the second half feels slow, with the premise starting to feel repetitive, but there is enough going on in Maaveeran to keep you invested till the end.

While Mandela had a lot going for it, Maaveeran turns out to be basic with respect to its story. Madonne Ashwin has settled for a straightforward film with the idea that could have been so much more than Maaveeran. Despite all such brilliance that's realised towards the end of the film, in retrospect, the excruciating wait one has to endure to get there does leave a bit of a bad aftertaste.