Director: Paneerselvam
Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Tanya, Bobby Simha, Pasupathy, Renuka
Though the story of Karuppan directed by Paneerselvan is as old as a hill, the movie works to a great extent solely because of the terrific screen presence of its lead protagonist Vijay Sethupathi.
Set in the rural milieu of Theni, Karuppan (Vijay Sethupathi) is a popular bull tamer who dots on his mentally challenged mother (Renuka). Maayi (Pasupathy), the local village head agrees to marry off his sister Anbu (Tanya) to the valiant guy who tames his bull. Karuppan emerges victorious (the bullfight is shot in an interesting manner) and when all seems well with the couple, a frustrated Kathir (Bobby Simha) - brother-in-law of Maayi who has an eye on Anbu - vows to wreck havoc in Karuppan’s life in order to attain Anbu.
The director seemed to be clear with his target of family audience and has infused enough elements to entertain them. There’s an adorable love between Karuppan and Anbu and both Sethupathi and Tanya score well, especially the former with his massy moments and effortless feats. Then there’s the mother (Renuka in an okay role) and anna - thangachi (Pasupathy proving his versatility and Tanya) sentiments which are sure to go well with women crowd. Bobby who is back to villainy role impresses but the director could have given more importance to his character. After a long time, the otherwise loud Singam Puli’s comedy works to a great extent. Sharat Lohitashva does not create the right impact.
Technically, Imman’s background score is more noteworthy than his songs, which appear at regular interval and mars the already slow pace. Kudos to Sakthivel’s cinematography, which captures the rural environment well! Over-all Karuppan is a well packaged rural entertainer and is watchable once.
