Meiyazhagan review: This Karthi-Arvind Swami starrer is high on emotions and values
Synopsis: A man travels to his hometown for his cousin's wedding, 22 years after he loses his ancestral property. There he is looked after by a man, who recalls their childhood memories. But who is he? How are they connected?
Meiyazhagan poster
Cast: Karthi, Arvind Swami, Raj Kiran, Sri Divya, Devadarshini, Ilavarasu, Swathi Konde, Jayaprakash and Karunakaran
Director: C Premkumar
Music director: Govind Vasantha
Rating- 3/5
Premkumar's second directorial is Meiyazhagan, which has Karthi playing the titular role. He is accompanied by Arvind Swami. The filmmaker's fascination with 96 continues as the film begins in the year 1996 in Thanjavur with a young Arulmozhi Varman (Arvind Swami) and his family is forced to leave the town after selling their ancestral property. This also leads to him cutting his ties with all his relatives, barring his uncle Sudalamuthu (Raj Kiran).
Cut to 2018, he has to travel to his hometown for his dearest cousin Bhuvana's (Swathi Konde) wedding. There, Arul meets a person, who calls him aththan (maternal cousin) and looks after him very well. They both spend time together but Arul doesn't exactly know who he is. He tries to figure out but couldn't.
The second half of the 177-minute Meiyazhagan deviates to politics, and some chola history. This 20-minutes of the film is something the makers could do away with as it could reduce the runtime and still would keep the core of the film intact.
Karthi's innocence and Arvind Swami's many emotions make us sit through this emotional roller coaster. Govind Vasantha has done his part really well with playing along with the story and the emotions of characters we meet. The live sync sound takes us closer to the landscape along with Mahendhiran Jayaraju's visuals. Meiyazhagan is beautiful in it's own way and will pull the family audience to theatres.
Detailed review to follow