Rocky - A gore fest without any compromises

It's been a couple of years since the trailer of ‘Rocky’ sent chills down the spine of viewers raising high expectations.   Vignesh Shivan and Nayanthara have finally brought the film to screen and whether it lives up to its hype remains to be seen.

Rocky (Vasant Ravi) , a convicted murderer is freed after 17 years and finds that his mother Mayil (Rohini) has been murdered by his powerful enemy Manimaran (Bharathiraja) and his sister Amudha (Raveena Ravi) is missing.  The search for Amudha leads him back to the underworld and he is forced to murder dozens and dozens of people in the most gory and repulsive manner.   The rest of the screenplay in non linear fashion tries to give a peek into who Rocky is and what becomes of him when he is handed a precious life to protect.

Vasanth Ravi portrayed a wayward IT guy with toxic relationship issues remarkably in Ram's 'Taramani'.  In 'Rocky' he plays the title role and has apparently put in a lot of effort to get the perfect look for the character.  His brooding eyes express the inner turmoil while his body is perfect for orchestrating the gore fest in every other scene.  He is also good when clumsily trying to connect with the little girl he needs to protect for redemption.  He could have worked harder to nail the voice modulation which is off color for the role he plays.   Bharathiraja as the ruthless gangster Manimaran is a revelation and with just his body language and dialogue delivery he convinces that he is indeed the devil incarnate.  Watch out for the scene in which he teaches his son who the boss is.  Raveena Ravi is solid in the brief role of the doting sister who cares but cannot show it.  The little girl who plays the all important role of the angel amongst the devils is aptly cast.   The rest of the cast like Ashraf Mallisery as Dhanraj, Jayakumar as Natraj, Ravi Venkatraman as Sami and Rohini as Mayil are all very impressive.

What works best in 'Rocky' are the manner in which the characterization of the mail lead is translated on screen by the choices he makes, the sentiments he adheres to and his morality in his highly immoral world.  Thankfully the film does not deviate even a millimeter from its path and the non linear narrative helps to keep the audiences engaged till the very end.  The film questions the relevance of God, inevitability of time and destiny in a convincing way.    The depiction of all the skull crushing and blood splattering violence in its true nature of hard toil and messed up mental state is remarkable.   The one big humor in the entire film is set up brilliantly right from the first scene and is paid off in style with a pedophile getting his due from Rocky.   

Tamil cinema in recent times is borrowing from the west ideas like fighting for social justice and biopics of inspirational personalities.  The downside of 'Rocky' is that it's heavily inspired by the western idea of glorifying violence and filming it in a so-called aesthetic way.    The over long scenes are taxing and seem to be done just for the heck of it and not that the story demanded it.    Most of the emotions of the characters on screen fail to connect to the audience not due to alienation to their world but because of the self indulgent writing.

Technically 'Rocky' rocks with the sound design taking first place authentically capturing hammers and car bonnets crushing skulls, blood oozing out from all parts of bodies.  Darbukka Siva uses an array of string and skin instruments to amplify the emotion or rather lack of it along with the gore fest.  Shreyas Krishna employs long and wide shots with sepia for the underworld and black and white for the flashbacks to good effect.   The editing is trendy and in line with the films that have inspired this one.  Arun Madheshwaran on debut has impressed with going the full monty in his ballad of violence without any compromises.  That he has delivered one of the most offbeat films in Tamil cinema remains a fact.  His writing could have been better and hopefully his next lineup of stories will be more home grown.  Vignesh Shivan and Nayanthara deserve praise for their first film as producers in their mission to give Tamil audiences new viewing experiences.

Verdict : Go for this one if you can stomach gore and you will be treated to a different film for sure.