It’s hard not to admire Sasikumar in Kodi Veeran. Granted, it’s the same old rural landscape, veecharuvas drawn at the drop of a hat, and a bevy of women in heavy jewellery, but Sasikumar is set in his mission, and is unabashed about it.
When Kodi Veeran begins – named after the hero, needless to say – Sasikumar’s difficult childhood is in sharp focus. Adulterous father, suicidal mother, a baby sister whom he raises… and just as the tear-jerker over the title credits ends, he’s a grown man. Someone whom the village worships, almost like a deity. The transformation is a little baffling; but Sasikumar embraces it like only he can. Walking on hot coals with a baby on your back cannot be without merit, after all. And thus, Kodi Veeran storms in on the screen, with an opening that would be the envy of any mainstream hero. The camera lovingly zooms in on his profile and documents every step, if it misses, the score – some celebratory rural notes – quickly reins the attention back in. And, Sasi basks in it. He tosses his head in tune with the music, walks the walk, speaks lines that are meant to inspire dread, and watches as the rest of the cast dances around him in adulation. His sister adores him, the village-folk worship him, and the woman he would like to marry has a locket made – with his likeness. There’s no trace of irony in these proceedings. Director Muthiah’s filmmaking is as earnest as his lead’s intent to turn into a man of the masses. The tale that the director weaves solely caters to this …whim.
Recommended
Kodiv Veeran sets out to find a bridegroom for his sister, but sister has designs on another. She’s the selfless sibling that adores her brother, so she makes a pact with his ladylove to wed her brother. The convolution doesn’t quite end there as another pair of siblings – a rival one – enters the fray. They want all of them dead, but Kodi Veeran just cannot lose even if he wants to. And thus, amidst some vivid rural imagery, the camera, the score, and the crew conspire to lead Kodi Veeran to victory. They do so with gusto and some single-minded devotion that is surely worthy of praise.
And, if not for the overdrawn, exaggerated sequences with tedious domestic squabbles that almost serialises it, Kodi Veeran could have well been a fun experiment – a kind of satire which draws on scripts that seek to make heroes out of its leads. But as always with movies of its ilk, Kodi Veeran is intense, almost humor-less in its quest to stardom.
*****
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