Michael movie review: Sundeep Kishan’s action-drama is all style and no substance

Midway through Michael, there’s a scene where the titular protagonist is upset with the way things are panning out. So, he stops a car that honked at him and burns it down. It happens inside a tunnel, the vintage car is enveloped in smoke as it incinerates. The scene looks as brilliant as it is pointless. The idea is to show the rage of the hero and what he is capable of, but it is never realised. In another scene, the mother of a gangster lies next to his son’s body, which is drenched in blood. Cinematographer Kiran Koushik slowly pulls the camera up and their two bodies form the shape of the Yin-Yang symbol. Does it signify something deep about the relationship between the mother and son? Does it have any significance to the story? Does it serve the narrative in any way? The answer to all these questions is a resounding ‘no’. These brilliant frames of Michael are supposed to make us go ‘woah’; instead we ask ‘so?’

The appalling aspect of Michael is the conviction with which its makers mount an enormous budget and technical bravado on the flimsiest of stories. A lot about the protagonist’s intention is held back from us throughout the major part of the movie. We just know that Michael seems to be hungry for violence and wants to become like Guru (Gautham Vasudev Menon), a suave gangster in Mumbai. Even after thirty minutes into the film, we don’t get a glimpse of Michael (Sundeep Kishan) in a futile attempt at myth-building. He saves Guru in a heroic fight sequence and earns his trust quickly. Michael is then sent on a mission to stalk the daughter of Guru’s enemy and kill them both. As is the case with a lot of such stories, Michael ends up falling for the girl, Theera (Divyansha Kaushik).

SS Rajamouli, while talking about his action sequences, said how it is important to create an emotional purpose for them. That’s exactly what Michael lacks. The drama that director Ranjit Jeyakodi tries to create doesn’t work at all and there is no emotion because the world here is too cold for such feelings. Take for instance how Guru breaks the news about the death of their son to his wife. He goes, “Our son is dead.” Just that. That’s pretty much how Theera reacts when her dad is shot dead. When even the characters lack any emotion, it is unreasonable for the audience to show some for these cardboard cut-outs.

In contrast to many such gangster films, the build-up to the hero comes towards the end of Michael. We are ‘told’ the reasons and the purpose of his actions, but that doesn’t become a big reveal as it was intended to, because by then we are exhausted looking at bloodshed and slain heads. Also, the hero doesn’t need an intense motive for his actions. He can be burning down an empire as revenge for the murder of his dog, as long as it is done with conviction, we will buy it. It is about how such an absurd motive is executed. All said and done, one has to feel bad for the wasted cinematography and the brilliant music of Sam CS. In the trailer of the film, Guru tells Michael, “Idhellam oru ponnukagava panra? Nambavae mudila, Michael (Are you doing ‘all of this’ for a girl, Michael? I can’t believe it).” Just replace the words “a girl” with “this film”, one can tell the same to the makers.

Kirubhakar Purushothaman

Kirubhakar Purushothaman is a Principal Correspondent with Indian Express and is based out of Chennai. He has been writing about Tamil cinema and a bit about OTT content for the past eight years across top media houses. Like many, he is also an engineer-turned-journalist from Tamil Nadu, who chose the profession just because he wanted to make cinema a part of his professional life.   ... Read More