Kennedy Club Movie Review
Production: Nallu Samy Pictures Cast: Bharathiraja, M Sasikumar Direction: Suseenthiran Screenplay: Suseenthiran Story: Suseenthiran Music: D Imman Background score: D Imman Cinematography: R. B. Gurudev Editing: Antony PRO: Johnson
Suseenthiran’s Kennedy Club, produced by Thai Saravanan under the banner Nallusamy Pictures, is a sports drama that has Sasikumar and Bharathiraja in the lead roles. The film revolves around the lives of underprivileged women from Ottanchathiram (Dindigul), who become Kabaddi players, not just for the love of the sport, but they also believe Kabaddi,Several sports films of this fashion have been made in different languages, and hence, what makes such a movie intriguing is the way the story is packaged. Suseinthiran seems to have chosen a safe game – a familiar storyline with girls’ kabaddi as the backdrop. How they tackle various challenges under the coaching of Muruganandam (Sasikumar) and senior coach Savarimuthu (Bharathiraja) forms the story.
The characters of girls, hailing from economically weaker families, are decently etched and we are able to empathise with them. Their family issues, which involve parents denying them permission to participate in kabaddi matches, do engage the viewers. Sasikumar puts up a good performance as the concerned coach while Bharathiraja goes overboard at times. Wat the film lacks is a strong emotional connect and inclusion of new elements which such movies in the past haven’t dealt with.
The film deals with gender disparity issues, north-south politics, etc, but those scenes required more depth in conveying effectively what was intended to convey. The antagonist character, Mukesh Sharma, (Murali Sharma) falls flat and is no way posing a big threat to the protagonist. Suseenthiran takes up a familiar premise (his directorial debut was Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu) to make a supposed social commentary. Is it about uplifting village girls who are caged by society? Or is it about the politics involved in kabaddi? Maybe it’s yet another message-inducing revenge drama? It’s hard to tell. Kennedy Club is the kind of movie that bats for empowering women, and at the same time expects them to wear saris. It’s the kind that asks girls to grow wings, but also says, “Do not cut your hair.” Because…Tamizh kalacharam. It’s also the kind that stereotypes other states. For instance, the Kerala team’s coach wears sandalwood paste on his forehead, to show he’s from…Kerala. Without that, will he look European?
Soori makes a cameo appearance, playing a coach from Baroda. Sasikumar looks at him and says, “He looks like a parotta master.” I’m not done yet. There’s also a self-referential joke about Soori’s remarkable ‘parotta comedy’ from Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu. Kennedy Club had found the answer to this question, it could have been a more focussed, much better film.
