After the head-turning performance in Bala's Paradesi, nothing worked right for Atharvaa Murali who picked below average subjects like the lackluster Irumbu Kuthirai which failed poorly at the box office. Today, he needs a comeback and so does Sargunam, the director of Chandi Veeran, who delivered a horrible village drama in Dhanush's Naiyyandi. 

Plot

Bose Venkat, Atharvaa's father, gets murdered in the communal politics between two villages named Nedungaadu and Vayalpadi in the Tanjore district. He fought for the neighborhood village's right to drink clean water and succumbs to death in a feud. His child, Atharvee Murali, the sole bread-winner of the family, works in Singapore to make ends meet.

When he comes back to the village and falls in love with her childhood friend, played by Kayal Anandhi, he realizes that the Vayalpadi people is still suffering from contaminated ground water which plagues the entire village gradually. He takes up the messiah role which made his father die mercilessly. Will he ensure Vayalpaadi gets clean drinking water?

Plus

Sargunam's intent deserves praise for the relevant subject that is being conveniently forgotten by the media in the real life. The performance of Atharvaa, Lal and Anandhi are good and they perfectly lived their respective roles.

The pre-interval portions of the film bring good emotions on screen and make us invested in Sargunam's narration. 

Minus

The loud and jarring background score composed by Arunagiri could have been avoided especially the overdose of sentiments to prove the sympathy of audiences with message-oriented songs in the second half.

The story-telling takes a backseat in the second half where Sargnunam resorts to regular hero-centric stereotypes. 

Bottom Line

While AR Murugadoss narrated the water scarcity problem in Kaththi brilliantly with intrguing plot points, Sargunam lacks that directorial skills to the make film work. However, Chandi Veeran is not all that bad and is quite watchable. 

Verdict : A watchable village drama with a good social message

Stars : 2.5/5