Arya is back with a bang. In Pa Ranjith’s Sarpatta Parambarai out in Amazon Prime, the bubbly romantic hero of Tamil cinema, plays a North Chennai boxer with various shades of emotion.
A typical Pa Ranjith film that speaks for the oppressed, Arya shines as Kabilan. In a nutshell, it is the movie about a youngster who takes to boxing ring to land a kolnockout punch on opponent for his clan and his master.
Basically a sports drama set in 1970s (emergency era), it also speaks about socio-political and cultural ambience prevailed then. An underdog-fighting-all-odds to achieve his mission forms the crux. The travails, agony and betrayal that he goes through form the sub-plots. Ranjith has successfully captured the essence of life in North Chennai in late 1970s.
Not just the caste dynamics, the political upheavals triggered by the imposition of Emergency and the dissolution of the DMK government and the historical backdrop of the area’s boxing culture are spoken in detail.
If Arya is the flesh, Pasupathy as boxing master is the blood in Sarpatta. Pasupathy with his instant reaction and subtle emotions wins our hearts. Arya’s physical transformation and how he gets under the skin of his character to excel is worth a mention.
The likes of G Sundar, John Vijay, Anupama Kumar, Sanchitha Natarajan, Kalaiyarasan add merit to the proceedings. Murali’s camera and Santosh Narayanan’s music are good.
Sarpatta speaks loud and clear of few issues. A typical Ranjith film which Arya shoulders well.