The Legend

“There is an army behind him… he is not alone…”
“You know who he is”
“Sir you are a true Legend!”

- With supporting actors’ “build-up” dialogues, protagonist Saravanan is constantly projected as a do-gooder, one who fights for women’s rights, works for the downtrodden, wants to serve the people of his nation etc.

 

An antibiotic scientist who refuses an offer to head All India Institute of Medical sciences, Saravanan is back in his village in Tamilnadu after a stint abroad.  He meets his classmate Tirupati whose entire family including his pregnant wife & two children are diabetic. He eventually dies due to unethical medication and Saravanan vows to invent a permanent solution to cure diabetes completely.

He works day and night in his research laboratory, and finally finds a cure for diabetes. But not before fighting arch rival VJ of OJO labs , not before finding a cute sweet lecturer in the village and getting married to her, not before testing our patience in this 2 hour 40 minute action drama.

 

For the uninitiated – Lead actor Saravanan Arul is an entrepreneur and owner of the mighty Saravana Stores. It's a shopping complex chain in Tamilnadu that sells clothing, jewellery etc. Internet mentions Saravanan Arul's net worth as Rs.100-150 Crores. He is literally the face of his big budgeted television ads. The acting bug has obviously bitten him and thus was born, his debut production #TheLegend featuring himself in the lead.

Look like Saravanan Arul's one word brief to directors JD-Jerry was “Make a film for me like ‘Sivaji-The Boss’”. The directors have gone about making an exact copy of ‘Sivaji-The Boss’ roping in the same villain and lead comedian from the film. Writer ‘Pattukottai’ Prabhakar, Composer Harris Jayaraj, DOP Velraj, Choreographers Raju Sundaram, Editor Ruben… The Legend has only and only A-Listers in its crew.

Sachu, Latha, Prabhu, Nasser, Poornima Jayaram, Late Viveik, Suman, Vijayakumar, Mansoor Ali Khan are only few of the supporting actors. The list is endless, infact. The performances are earnest what with Prabhu going overboard making up for Saravanan Arul’s lack of expression in key scenes. By which I mean all scenes. Comedian Viveik had passed away and couldn’t complete the filming and dubbing of the film. So the live sound used in his scenes sound a bit jarring. With Yogi Babu, Late Mayilsamy, Singampuli, ‘Lollu Sabha’ Manohar in the comedy mix, the least the writer and directors could’ve done is avoided the sleazy comedy in the film.

Saravanan has not one but two-two heroines - Geetika and Urvashi Rautela. Geethika is your "Agmark Tamizh ponnu" in half-sarees and sarees who suddenly decides to go "modern" in the 'Thaene Thaene' song.  Saravanan Arul’s decided to go “Pan-India” with the scene where he goes on a trip to the hills to unwind and get over his sadness – a la Rockstar. Pppah! There’s a key twist in this part of the story. Not spoiling it for you but you’re a true genius if you spot the “twist” that appears here and gets revealed towards the climax.

While Velraj’s cinematography looked flashy, tacky at times, Editor Ruben must be lauded ensuring Saravanan Arul’s dancing and action sequences didn’t look dreadful, thanks to his cuts. I genuinely would like to know whether it was VFX or whether it was a 'Saravanan mask' that made him dance, fight and walk like Rajini. Experts and Kollywood insiders, please comment and let me know.

Tamil cinema has had its share of parody films thanks to the ‘Tamizh Padam’ series. ‘The Legend’ could have been fabulous addition to the list of parody films. Unfortunately it isn’t one.