Karnan Analysis

Karnan (2021)

Written and Directed by: Mari Selvaraj
Music: Santhosh Narayanan
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Karnan begins with a terrific opening shot, of a girl laying on a road and vehicles casually passing by her. This sets up the entire film for us with an opening image. But the film doesn't take long to establish that this film is about oppression - with the scene at the bus stop. I could see a lot of Rajamouli's style in this film, the way the kid pelts a stone at the bus, the horse goes back to the kid and the way his father who stops him all along, finally hands him a sword and asks him to go. Of course, films about oppression have a similar way of evoking emotion - by showing us ridiculous things that bad people do and evoking anger, to create tension and finally it all releases when the hero comes and fights it all. But with the riot scene in the ending, this film doesn't do that - it doesn't celebrate when Karnan comes back - that moment is long gone. I felt at a couple of moments, that Karnan should be back now, and he didn't - which means that the film is not trying to show us the glory of Karnan - it rather captures the tragedy of oppression in the garb of a commercial flick of Karnan saving the village. Finally, he comes and saves the village - but the feeling the film leaves us with is not that of a celebration of a hero rescuing a village - but a hard hitting reflection of the underprivileged in the society.

I often think that I'm not someone who'd fight for something - I'd rather let it be and move on with my life. I'm quite a passive person when it comes to conflict. With this film, I realized that even that is a privilege. I have ways around in which I can lead a normal, peaceful life. Imagine having to fight just for getting basics like food, electricity and survival. I understand why certain people are aggressive by nature - because that's how life has been to them - that's how they've got whatever they've got - by fighting for it. I liked Pariyerum Perumaal better than Karnan, for one - the exuberance that I felt when Karuppi returned - it's very rare. Only for that one moment, I would put that film over this and also that film is set in a slice of life, college kind of a setting where they establish all these problems - so I could probably relate more to that world. This world, though it evokes anger when injustice happens - it was more sympathetic than empathetic for me.