The Legend movie review: An elaborate advertisement of a bloated ego

Even before its release, the general consensus about The Legend was to file it under the “so-bad-it’s-good tag”. The Legend has undoubtedly lived up to the expectation and in no way falsifies the preconceived notions about the movie. Having said that, one has to admit that the film is unintentionally hilarious. The last time I found audiences having so much fun in theatres was in Sivakarthikeyan’s Doctor. However, the comedy there was intentional, but here people laugh at the film and not with it. It wants us to get goosebumps when the caked-up hero breaks into a monologue about his dedication to the country and its people. It wants us to tear up at his loss, and hoot whenever he pummels the henchmen. However, laughter seems to be the common response to this bloated vehicle that lasts about 160 minutes.

The trailer of The Legend had certain similarities to Rajinikanth’s 2007 film Sivaji. Like Shankar’s blockbuster, The Legend also has an overachieving hero, Saravanan (Saravanan Arul) who returns to his hometown to ostensibly help the unsuspecting villagers. Saravanan is a renowned scientist who has made a significant breakthrough in the field of antibiotics, which has ended the business of many crony-capitalistic pharma companies. Obviously, he has many villains baying for his blood. Now, he wants to find a permanent cure for diabetes. VJ (Suman) doesn’t like it one bit as he makes a living by selling insulin, ensuring that Saravanan now has a target painted on his back.

Between all this, The Legend also sells a romance to us. So, when Saravanan is not dishing out life lessons and kicking around people thrice his body weight, he is wooing Thulasi (Geethika Tiwari), a lecturer whose father is his family friend. Things escalate quickly and the two soon get married. Perhaps, it’s the only thing that moves in the screenplay of The Legend, which otherwise stays static like Saravanan’s face.

Talking about faces, The Legend features some capable actors like Vijakumar, Nasser, and Thambi Ramaiah. Unfortunately, everyone is turned into a laughable caricature mouthing some redundant lines. Harris Jayaraj’s songs and background scores and R Velraj’s camerawork are the only genuine efforts that have gone into this outdated and formulaic movie.

The innate problem of The Legend is that it’s not a movie but a set piece to propel Saravanan into stardom. Even the well-intended story about taking on the medical mafia is exploited to serve the hero. All the scenes are carefully crafted to exalt the hero, and it is saddening and excruciating to see these renowned actors reduced to auxiliary templates with only one objective – to hype up the hero. JD and Jerry have made much better ad films, and The Legend ends up as an elaborate and expensive addition to their stable. The pseudo movie aims to sell Saravanan Arul as a star. Unfortunately, the attempt is in vain since stars – both cinematic and celestial – cannot be designed.