Chennai
The expectations for the sequel were sky-high ahead of the release. With consecutive successes like Thupparivaalan and Irumbu Thirai, the onus was on director Lingusamy to provide a hat trick of successes for Vishal as an actor and a producer. Was the team justified in making a sequel to a cult classic like Sandakozhi?
The film opens with how villages around Theni district have been hit by drought for seven years after failing to conduct the festival for their deity. They are denied permission by the local authorities after Pechi’s husband (Vishwanth) is murdered in a festival. The chief of the clan, Durai Aiyya (Raj Kiran) manages to convince the authorities that they would conduct the thiruvizha in a peaceful way. However, Pechi (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar) takes an oath that she will avenge her husband’s death in the upcoming festival season. Meanwhile, the first half starts gathering momentum as Durai’s son Balu (Vishal) returns to his village from abroad. From then on, we are introduced to several characters including that of Keerthy Suresh, who does justice to what was given to her. In the first half, Vishal and Raj Kiran remind us of Thevar Magan, Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Haasan on how the son takes over responsibilities from his father. While men in this film love to live in peace, we see women seeking war and vengeance. There are female atmosphere artistes seen with daggers and machetes. Violence and bloodshed in the first half of the film add some pace to the film. It takes us somewhere close to the original.
The second half is where the plot begins to fall flat. Fight scenes begin to look like those that are written for a fantasy film and not for a commercial one. Music gets louder and the plot drags. Unexpected twists and turn of events in the climax only test the audiences patience and do not provide any relief. The performances and the music in the first half are the only positives in the film. Each character has played his/her part well and has not gone overboard.
This film has done its bit to support Vishal’s political ambitions by incorporating dialogues like Indha chinna vayasulaye thalaiku mela neraya sumaya vechurkaan (He have taken up a lot of responsibilities at this young age). Varalaxmi’s character that has shades of grey though has been executed well, but hasn’t managed to rescue the film in the climax. Keerthy Suresh has effortlessly spoken the Madurai slang. But then cutting a few scenes in the second half would have made the film look more crisp and neat. Overall, Sandakozhi 2 is just another commercial caper and not anywhere close to the cult classic.
Sandakozhi 2
Cast: Vishal Krishna, Raj Kiran, Keerthy Suresh, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Kanja Karuppu, Muneeskanth Ramdoss, Hareesh Peeradi, Vishwanth, Arjai, Gnanasambandham, Thennavan and Shanmugarajan
Director: N Lingusamy
Music Director: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Synopsis: Balu and his father Durai vow to protect Anbu after a woman from the neighbouring village looks to avenge the death of her husband. Will Balu and Durai protect Anbu?
Stars: 2.5/5
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