Sarpatta Parampara hits the right punch

“Sarpatta Parampara”, the Telugu dubbed version of Tamil actor Arya’s “Sarpatta Parambarai” is steaming on Amazon Prime Video. The film trailer created a lot of buzz in movie lovers. Let’s see whether the movie reached its expectations or not.

Story

Samara(Arya), a labourer in Chennai harbour aspires to become a successful boxer. One day, he is provided with an opportunity to prove himself in the boxing ring and he makes the most of it. But his turn as a boxer lands him in big trouble both personally and professionally. What are the controversial incidents proceeding and succeeding Samara’s boxing career? The answer to this question and did he returned to the boxing ring is the remaining plot of the story.

Analysis

Director Pa Ranjith’s previous film, “Kaala” starring Rajinikanth was a box-office dud. With “Sarpatta Parampara”, he is back on track. The film hits all the right punches for a boxing drama. It is essentially a sports drama can’t escape the cliches of the genre. Despite following the same pattern, the film also rises above them. Director Pa Ranjith has cleverly blended socio-political incidents of the 1970’s, which makes it an engaging watch.

The culture of clans for boxing sport is something which is different. More than the story, it is the milieu, and the culture draws us into it. Ranjith crafts the film with the right punches, even though inconsistently. If we excuse the later portions, which are regular tropes of Tamil movies, “Sarpatta Parampara” engages. Arya’s collaboration with Pa Ranjith delivered an interesting output.

The film has a runtime of around 175 minutes and it loses momentum every again, which acts against the cause. Crisp run-time would have served the film very well. As a result of the lengthy run-time, many scenes in the middle portion look stretched out. The sentiment track between the lead pair looks good at first but it turns monotonous after a point as the same conflict point is highlighted repeatedly. The scenes related to the consequences faced by the protagonist for committing a crime needed a better narration. Owing to weak writing, these episodes end up being unimaginative and they test the patience of the viewers. Better screenplay in the middle portion could have worked really well for the film, as a whole.

Artists’ performances

“Sarpatta Parampara” banks on the performances of the lead cast and they deliver big time. Arya is the pick of the lot as he delivers a commendable performance in the role of a hot headed boxer. He is terrific in all the scenes. Pasupathy as his coach also gives another convincing performance. He lets his eyes speak throughout the film. The actors who played as the boxers Vettappuli and Dancing Rose are equally good. Among the women characters, both Dushara Vijayan as wife and Anupama Kumar as mother tried to steal the show. Sanchana Natarajan also entertained audience with her scenes

Technical excellence

As writer and director, Pa Ranjith bounces back with this film. Despite lengthy runtime and some less convincing portions in the second half, Ranjith delivers it well. The film has superb production design and camerawork. The essence of 70’s Chennai is presented in the best way possible. Songs and background score by Santosh Narayan are apt for the film.