Film Review 'kennedy club': A well-intentioned sports drama that lacks punch

Now, after almost a decade, the director has come up with yet another kabaddi-based film which talks about women-empowernment and politics in the sport.

While the intention of the maker is laudable, the script lacks punch and follows the same-old sports formula that’s been done and dusted in Tamil cinema.

The film begins with the introduction of seven underprivileged women from Oddanchathiram (Dindigul), who knows nothing but kabaddi. Savarimuthu (Bharathiraja), an ex-army man, spends all his life teaching them the sport and even supports them financially. His only dream is to make his team, The Kennedy Club, compete at the National level and also help the players secure a government job through sports quota. At one point of time, Savarimuthu gets admitted to the hospital due to health issues and asks his old student Muruganandham (Sasikumar) to prepare the team for state tournaments.

Trouble begins, when one of the players in his team, who gets selected for Asian Games, attempts suicide. Muruganandham discovers that a corrupt official in the selection committee was responsible for this incident and plots to dethrone him. Will he make his team taste victory at the National level tournament despite all this complications or succumb to the corrupt officials?

Kennedy Club has all the ingredients that a sports drama is expected to have. But the problem is also the same. It’s not unique and has a weak plot that gets predictable as the film progresses. Though it has been heart in the right place the problem with Kennedy Club is that it is uneven. The dialogues in a film of this genre should be rousing but somehow, we don’t feel the punch in the lines and that allows us to empathise with the leads. However, the sporting action, supported by Imman’s background score, is nail-biting and helps us to sit throughout the film. The relationship between Sasikumar and Bharathiraja is well set-up and makes us to wish for more scenes featuring the two. Susienthiran also maintains the pace of the film throughout and make sure that he doesn’t deviate from the core plot.

Debutant actress Meenakshi Govindarajan and other kabbadi players featured in the film do their part well and are impressive on the screen. While Sasikumar’s performance was a treat to watch, Bharathiraja goes overboard in the climax scenes. Overall, Kennedy Club is an average sports drama that could have been made better.