Maaveeran Kittu movie review: Loses focus mid-way moving at a slow pace
Director: Suseenthiran
Cast: Vishnu Vishal, Sri Divya, Parthiban, Harish Uttaman, Soori
When director Suseenthiran, known for his touch of realism and unique scripts announced his movie Maaveeran Kittu, it raised many brows. Susee was quick to react saying the film is not centered on Kittu, the LTTE rebel who fought for Eelam liberation. On the other hand MK is based on a real life personality with the same name from Susee’s native who fought for the rights of oppressed lower caste 30 years back.
Set in a remote village near Pazhani in 80’s, the movie revolves around Kittu (Vishnu Vishal), a lower caste boy, who is studios and a state topper in plus 2 and aspires to become a collector. His inspiration is Chinnarasu (Parthiban) the printing press owner who works tirelessly for the upliftment of his community who are victimized by upper-class people.
Gomathy (Sri Divya), a girl belonging to upper class and a college mate of Kittu falls for the latter. At one point, the neighboring upper caste village head (Nagineedu) and his son Selvaraj (Harish Uttaman) who is a cop with the local station stop the bus service to ply through the Dalit village. They are also annoyed when Kiitu and Gomathy are in love and in a bid to shatter Kittu’s IAS dreams, Selvaraj hatches a plot and kills Gomathy’s father. Meanwhile, in a turn of events, Kittu is put behind the bars and tortured. He goes missing on the subsequent day.
The entire village under Chinraasu’s leadership stages a protest in front of the police station demanding Kittu to be released which draws the attention of the district collector and higher authorities. With a clever plan hatched by Chinraasu (and with the help of Kittu), things begin to work in their favor. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose.
Vishnu who is teaming up with his mentor Suseenthiran has given an earnest performance and does what the director wanted him to do. Sri Divya looks good in song sequences and there’s nothing much by way of performance. It is Parthiban (whose character is well etched) who effortlessly pulls off his role with a lot of conviction. Harish Uttaman is menacing. Why do we need a top comedian like Soori for this film?
What starts of as an engrossing story of furious casteism of the 80’s (for that matter with so many honor killings we witness even today, caste discrimination still prevails), loses its focus and the film moves at a slow pace.
No doubt, Susee has tried to stick on to the real life story with his proceedings but one wishes he could have worked on a tauter screenplay. Imman’s BGM is a major plus to the film, while the songs are okay to some extent. Soorya’s camera captures the village in its real beauty and the lush green forests brilliantly.
