In 2006 when Pudhupettai hit the screens, nobody…. yes nobody ever thought a slim boy next door could pull such a strong performance out of a gangster movie, Dhanush has come a long way from then to star in Bollywood, but yet with Maari he proves he is always the local lad we once knew. Balaji Mohan after his Comic “Vaayai Moodi Pesavum” is back and joining them is the lovely Kajal and Youngster Anirudh with songs already making waves. So how Thara Local is Maari? Well let us find out.

The Local Boy Maari:

To start with, Balaji has done a fab job in creating the “Maari” effect to Dhanush, the actor’s costume and body language itself is enough to boost the heroism aroma around, as a typical local rowdy he is seen in a loosely buttoned beach shirt and veshti, a cool roundabout coolers, enough jewelry for a dowry, sports a street type hairdo, walks and smokes around with an arrogance and of course two sidekicks – sunny(Robo Shankar) and Adithangi to add mass.

The plot is pretty straight forward, a local rowdy whose meteoric rise in the colony has made him win some peer jealousy, then there is a police officer around who tries to trick his way around to corner the goon and yes there is this beautiful heroine who starts off with negative impressions only to change her mind later.

Dhanush carries the character of Maari through his back with limited punch dialogues and one liners, to quote a few– “Yaar Paathu da rowdy maathirinu sonna... Rowdy thanda” and “Kalapadamana Nallavana Irukarathoda...Suthamana Kettavana Irundhadalamae”, these are dialogues induced specifically to show the character’s nature and yes of course an arousing round of whistles and claps from the audience. The screenplay continues to entice by showcasing the hero’s mass, thanks to Dhanush’s sidekicks the film is kept lively.

Vijay Yesudas after enchanting us with his lovely vocals all these years makes debut as a Police man, starts off rather interesting but the plot, screenplay and dialogues makes him finish of as a just about villain cop. With pranks, a firm cop, rival gangs and a whiff of romance from the newly moved in girl – Kajal the plot chugs along until the director springs open a twist - who actually is the bad guy, Maari or the cops? Well watch and find out!

What’s good?

Robo Shankar easily is the biggest asset of Maari, his amazing screen presence and amusing body language is one thing and his timing comic counters with Dhanush and co-artists is another. Kudos to Dhanush and Balaji Mohan for utilizing him to full extent, Kollywood sure is to watch more of him. You might get tired of boasting him, but nevertheless he simply amazes with innovative tunes and BGM, that boy Anirudh is amazing indeed. Shifting local gears the movie is a galore of bit songs woven into the screenplay and story rather than typical duet/mass songs, which itself is a relief. Its good to see heroines being utilized to a comfortable extent, Kajal looks dead drop gorgeous also has enough credit to boast about in her role.

Dhanush the man is simply electrifying, it might be the role he could simply do it blind folded for he is known to don local essence with ease, but the screen presence and body language simply innovates and keeps relishing. For the first half he keeps his mass in flamboyance and then brings about an unusual arrogance in the second half which rather works well.

Downside:

After a little over 2 hours, the movie falls just into an average masala movie; to start with a simple and predictable plot has the movie’s screenplay stretched. As much as we enjoyed easy light hearted comedy of Balaji Mohan in his previous movies, Maari heavily banks on Robo Shankar for his antics and one liners. There is so much talk about bird tournament and an emotional bond with the game, but little has been done to justify to cater its intention. Agreed that the character of Maari is a complete mass factor, a rowdy slash goon built up with roughness,  but it’s diminishing to see continuous puffs of smoke to establish the mass factor of Maari. Vijay yesudas as the villain starts promisingly, but at the end we are made to think if he was suitable or his character was not etched out with proper dialogues and hype.

Verdict : On a whole Maari is a regular masala movie, the ones which hardcore Dhanush fans would love to watch. What’s more pricking is that, Dhanush after establishing name across Pan India as a man who could pull of a blinder with Raanjhaana, 3, Shamitabh is back in a role which has little scope for experimentation, something which he always embraced with. For a man of his caliber, the expectation from an ordinary fan is always sky high and Maari falls short of that.