Kollywood filmmaker Pa Ranjith’s new film, Sarpatta Parambarai skipped its theatrical release and opted for a direct OTT release. Starring Arya in the lead role, the film is out on Amazon Prime Video today. Let’s see how it fares.
Story: Set in the mid-70s time period, the film revolves around the rivalry between two boxing gangs Sarpatta and Idiyappa in Chennai. While Ranga( Pasupathy) leads the Sarpatta team, Duraikannu ( GM Sundar) successfully heads the Idiyappa team with Vembuli (John Kokken) as his protege. A person named Kabilan( Arya) joins Ranga’s Sarpatta team as a boxer during this crucial point. Later, what kind of hurdles will Kabilan face in the boxing journey? Overcoming all odds, how will Kabilan brings glory to Sarpatta’s boxing team forms the main USB of the film.
Performances: Arya is terrific in the given role as the boxer. He moulded himself nicely with amazing body language and super solid physique and gives a realistic touch to this boxing drama. Especially, his screen presence and acting abilities in the crucial second-half proceedings brings a lot of depth. After watching the film, one can easily say that Arya’s acting in Sarpatta is best to date.
Pasupathy as a coach is outstanding and elevates the initial episodes with his acting. So is the case with Sanchana Natarajan and Anupama Kumar, who impresses with their performance in the emotionally coated characters.
John Kokken is simply superb in his negative shaded character and his bond with Shabbir’s character is nicely written and executed. All other artists, who did small roles in the movie are too good in their roles.
Technicalities: Santhosh Narayanan, who earlier worked for Pa Ranjith’s films like Kabali and Kaala is the music composer for Sarpatta also. Though the film has two songs in the narrative, there is nothing much to discuss, but Santhosh Narayanan’s background score stands tall. His BGM for all the crucial episodes in the film will carry the mood and has been done splendidly.
Cinematography by Murali G is top-notch as he brings the period flavour through his lens. Editing by Selva RK is fantastic but he would have trimmed a few scenes in the second half for a better cinematic experience.
Production design has been done neatly and the same is the case with the production values for this limited budget movie.
Analysis: Firstly, director Pa Ranjith’s should be lauded for coming up with a boxing drama set in the period backdrop. He has designed the story, screenplay, and characterizations in an engaging manner, which is not so easy a task for a sports drama, usually.
Though the film has a few cliches in the second half, there are quickly covered with gripping episodes or else with solid emotions. Arya’s character from novice to boxing champion has been developed nicely and Pa Ranjith took good care in designing it.
Despite lengthy runtime in the second half, the boxing ring scenes are executed with a fresh treatment and brings an authentic feel. The confrontation episodes between both gangs have also been executed on a stunning note and literally involves us from the word go in this period boxing drama.
To summarise, Sarpatta Parambarai is an emotionally connected boxing drama that has some strong characters, a nicely designed screenplay and ends as a satisfactory watch for the viewers.
Verdict: Well-crafted boxing drama!!!
Rating: 3.5/5
