Film Critic Tony Toscano joined us with movie reviews for the weekend.

After being delayed by the actor’s strike and writer’s strike, “Billy the Kid ” returns to MGM+. The series focuses on Billy the Kid and his early days as a cowboy and gunslinger in the American frontier, to his pivotal role in the Lincoln County War and beyond. Tony says, “Billy the Kid is a western that shares the legend and is not about historical accuracy, it’s simply a love letter to the old fashioned TV western. He gives it a B and it’s rated TV-MA.

In selected theaters is the biographical drama “Sight”. The inspiring true story of Ming Wang, an impoverished Chinese prodigy who flees Communist China to become a pioneering eye surgeon in America. When tasked with restoring the sight of an orphan who was blinded by her step mother, he must confront the trauma of his own violent youth. Tony says, “One of the most inspiring films this year, “Sight” offers a story of overcoming odds, commitment and victory.” He gives it an “A” and it’s rated PG-13.

Also in theaters is the comedy / drama “Ezra.” “Ezra” follows Max and Jenna struggling to co-parent their autistic son Ezra. When forced to confront difficult decisions about his future, Max takes Ezra on a cross-country road trip that changes both their lives. Tony says, “Ezra is a must see film that offers a comedic and tenderhearted approach to the subject of autism. The film is poignantly funny all the while showing us the struggles of parenting a child on the spectrum.” He gives it an A and it’s rated R.

You can learn more at screenchatter.com.

A still from ‘Garudan’ 
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

After a brilliant makeover from a comedian to a lead actor in Vetri Maaran’sViduthalai: Part 1, Soori’s sophomore outing as a protagonist, Garudan, proves that his transformation is not a flash in the pan. With a neatly woven script that has enough brawn to overcome its minor shortcomings, director RS Durai Senthilkumar makes a splendid comeback with this raw and intense rural drama.

In Garudan, Soori plays Sokkan, an orphan who finds solace in Karunakaran’s (Unni Mukundan) solidarity, turning him into a living embodiment of the word ‘loyalty’. Meanwhile, Aadhithya (Sasikumar) is Karuna’s best friend and the duo also professionally works in tandem. Akin to a marksman’s deafening gunshot disturbing the tranquillity of a peaceful forest where its inhabitants keep their animal instincts in check, trouble brews in multiple forms. The film catalogues the rift in these bonds down to the proverbial ‘mann, ponn, penn’ (greed for land, wealth and women). When these events rattle his perfect world, Sokkan is forced to take it upon himself to restore balance.

A cop wants to resign, a minister wants to swindle away a large piece of temple land, a character from a once-affluent family has a hard time making ends meet, a couple is distraught about their inability to conceive, a relationship leads to unplanned pregnancy, a cordial relationship between two people blooms into romance…. Garudan discloses all its cards with breakneck speed and introduces us to a plethora of characters. While it takes a while to settle within this world, the screenplay goes against its title to put us amidst the action instead of giving us a bird’s eye view of happenings.

Soori is arguably at the cusp of his career’s apogee. At a stage where a little ‘mass’ would do wonders amidst a lot of ’class’ (three of his films are having a dream run at film festivals), the actor could not have asked for something as bespoke and vivifying as Garudan. Not only does the film play to his strengths and does a brilliant job with the ‘rise of an underdog’ trope that we enjoyed in Viduthalai, but it also gives him enough space to showcase his talents across aspects like action, romance and even a little dance.

A still from ‘Garudan’ 
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

But Garudan does not break boundaries with its plot; it offers the usual tropes of brotherhood, deception and retribution that we have seen often, and scenes do remind us of its own actors and director’s films like Kidaari, Subramaniapuram and Kodi. In fact, if Maamannan can be interpreted as the perspective of Vadivelu’s character Isakki from Thevar Magan, Garudan is the equivalent of Isakki taking it upon himself to end the feud with those he considers his bosses. However, despite looming over familiar territory, Garudan manages to give us something fresh thanks to its treatment and performances.

Director Durai etches the three primary characters brilliantly and it starts right from their very names; Aadhi is the all-giving do-gooder and a ray of hope from the above, Karuna takes in a nobody under his wings and values fellowship more than anything, and Sokkan — keeping with the title of the film — is the bird that lives between these two entities. Soori is picture-perfect as Sokkan; the character is often called a dog because he is faithful and dependable, but the same man’s best friend can turn rabid when pushed into a corner.

A character elaborates on a dream she had featuring horses, elephants and men with weapons; a scene straight out of the Kurukshetra War. But in this game of chess, what’s often overlooked is how a simple pawn, when it reaches the other extreme end, can transform into something powerful and Soori aces that transformation. His distinct monologue of truth bombs that he delivers to Karuna, the humourous side that often comes out during his escapades with lady love Vinnarasi (Revathy Sarma), his show of allegiance to the families of Karuna and Aadhi, and the impressive action sequences featuring him make for some of the best scenes in the film. Sasikumar also fits perfectly in the role of Aadhi, a dignified character who is an extension of several lead roles he has previously played. A pleasant surprise comes in the form of Sshivada pulling off her limited but salient character with poise. But what feels like a miscast is Unni Mukundan whose dialect does not help with his rushed character arc.

The film has its fair share of issues ranging from painfully convenient twists to unnecessarily gory and violent action scenes. Still, they end up as mere speed-breakers in an otherwise enjoyable joy ride. Add to it an in-form Yuvan Shankar Raja whose scores elevate the mood of the film and Arthur A. Wilson’s well-crafted frames, the technical prowess successfully push the film over the finish line. It would not be a stretch to call Garudan as director Durai’s best work, and leave you wanting more of this metamorphosis of Parotta Soori to protagonist Soori!

Garudan is currently running in theatres

Cricket and marriage get into an awkward tangle in Mr & Mrs Mahi, a sports melodrama that hinges on action on the field of play and plenty of reaction off it, mostly in the realms of a relationship that runs into tricky terrain.

The Sharan Sharma-directed film is about sport but it segues into a tale of marital discord when thwarted ambitions collide with suppressed emotions. The narrative is unusual to say the least but the treatment is devoid of any major departures from norm.

A man who has never had it easy resolves to help his wife revive and hone the rough-and-ready batting skills she acquired as a girl playing tennis ball cricket with the neighbourhood boys.

Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor play the two cricket fanatics who become life partners. When the man fails to earn himself a second chance to make it big as a cricketer, the duo decides to channel their energy and experience into catapulting the lady, a diffident junior doctor in a Jaipur hospital, into the game’s big league.

Produced by Zee Studios and Dharma Productions and written by Sharan Sharma and Nikhil Mehrotra – the combination that created Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl – Mr & Mrs Mahi is, at best, a moderately engaging film that struggles with inconsistent pace.

It is simplistic and superficial in its exploration of sporting achievement and its personal and public spinoffs seen in the context of their repercussions on an apparently happy marriage of two amiable individuals with unresolved daddy issues. The film’s central emotional nub feels stretched.

The story is about a girl is coerced by her dad to give up cricket in order to prioritise her medical education, but the film revolves primarily around the man she marries. The latter is a failed cricketer forced by his domineering father to stop playing the game and join the family’s sports goods shop.

The two dour daddies, played by Kumud Mishra and Purnendu Bhattacharya, are the principal hurdles that Mahendra Agarwal and his wife Mahima Agarwal nee Sharma – the two names are abbreviated to Mahi – have to surmount as they seek to break free from familial shackles.

Cricket gives them courage and binds them but it also threatens to tear them apart. Their fight for freedom and fulfilment also involves coming to terms with success and the rewards that if offers by way of fame and recognition. Coached by her husband, Mahima makes rapid strides and wrests a spot in the Rajasthan women’s team.

With a mix of cross-batted strokes, orthodox off drives and cheeky switch-hits, the lady grabs her chances and quickly overshadows Mahendra. As she basks under the increasing media spotlight, the husband sulks and grumbles. He feels he deserves to be feted as a successful talent-spotter.

Mr & Mrs Mahi, at least parts of it, might have worked better had it stuck to a comic vein of the kind that it strikes when a disgruntled Mahendra makes reels to apprise the world of his role in the late-blooming Mahima’s rapid ascent.

Mr & Mrs Mahi never rises above the humdrum although it does have elements that render it passable as a relationship drama set against the backdrop of cricket.

For one, it does not subject the audience to the incessant babble of blabbermouth commentators and the shrieks and shouts of roaring spectators to drive home the ‘rousing’ impact of the sporting action on the screen.

The film falls back instead on-field chatter and an excitable coach’s instructions from beyond the boundary line as devices to ratchet up the drama and provide additional information on Mahima’s hits and misses.

Because the film focuses on the exploits of a single player, all the others, members of Mahima’s team as well as her opponents, are mere adjuncts thrown in to provide her with a platform to demonstrate her wares.

Off the field, Mahima is demure and tentative. On it, she is dynamite. She has a swing at every delivery that she faces. Hitting fours and sixes comes easy to her. If the ball is in the slot, I hit, she says. She gets struck by bouncers a couple of times. To be sure, she is down but never out.

But no matter how desperately the film tries, the excitement isn’t as intense and infectious as it is intended to be. It is way too easy to anticipate how things will turn out for Mahima and her husband who has a thing or two to prove to his doubting dad. That takes a great deal of the fun out of the proceedings.

The lead actors do their bit to keep us invested in the narrative and the emotions of the two principal characters. Rajkummar Rao, always on an even turf, delivers Mahendra’s recriminations, some directed at his father, others at his wife, with conviction even when the lines that the character speaks are riddled with self-pity.

Janhvi Kapoor’s Mahima does a good job of swaying between indecisive and assertive. She wields the willow like a plucky pro all right, but the marital pulls and pressures that she has to deal with lessen the female power that she is supposed to represent.

Mahima is projected as a lady whose fate is always in the hands of the men in her life – her father, her husband and the women’s team coach, whose impulsive ultimatums keep her on her toes. For the most part, she plays along, resigned to her lot.

When she eventually musters the gumption to say mujhe tumhari madat nahi chahiye (I do not need your help), one cannot but wonder why it took her so long to come to that decision.

That, in a sense, sums up Mr & Mrs Mahi. The film makes the right noises but not before putting the female protagonist through a grind devised by the men around her. And finally, it is not her dad but her husband’s father who has got to be mollified. The girl achieves a great deal but she can be happy only if her hubby and his dad are happy.

What the film conveys is that the female Mahi is incomplete without the male one. The conflicting and convoluted messaging is a mishit that lands nowhere. The result is a feeble gender equality tale that plods its way, exhaustingly at times, to a rather predictable end.