Hari is one director who has got all his family-based dramas right, loading it with enough action all through his career. And in his latest film Rathnam, he tries to bring in all his histrionics and put together an action heavy film that is also emotionally loaded as well.
First things first, Hari is not a director who seems to be changing his style of filmmaking as he sticks to his usual zone of narration and alters his other facets in his storyline. Instead of a fast-cut narrative, Hari has increased the speed of his narration here and presents an engaging film that has a really good first half followed by a long but mostly satisfying second half. Rathnam’s storyline is one that is filled with a lot of emotions, timelines, characters and convolutions but it always keeps doing something to keep us pinned to the current scene if not the previous one. Yes, Hari cannot escape from the clutches of his usual screenplay pattern or the local-ness in his films, but he ensures that he does not go overboard and keeps the film on its wheels.
Vishal has delivered a fine performance in the lead role, which feels more real and better than his last few films. Priya Bhavani Shankar is a good fit to the role and offers the film a superb performance, along with Samuthirakani who is terrific in every scene he appears on screen.
Where the film is weak is its villain side, which could have been packed with better choices. However, it does not affect it much in totality. A special mention to GVM which rules the roost in the single scene that he comes for.
Rathnam’s big plus – the action sequences in the film which all come with a good source of purpose in them, and keep the ball rolling smooth until the end. The songs by DSP are not great, but the BGM is a fine fit throughout. On the other hand, the film has good cinematography by Sukumar and the single shot take is laudable for its effort.
On the whole, Rathnam is a film that is a satisfying watch on the whole for commercial film fans.