Cast: Vikram, Druf Vikram, Simran, Bobby Simha and Vaniboyan with Sanans, Vitai Mutumar, Deepak Palamesh and Adukaramna Lun
Directed by: Karthik Subbaraj

Rating: Two and a half stars (out of 5)

Karthik Subbaraj’s overlong Tamil crime drama Mahaan, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, alternates between the massy and the trashy but it does so with unapologetic flair. That is not to suggest that the film’s erratic trajectory deflects lead actor Vikram from his path in any way. He holds firm and carries the film on his shoulders.

Vikram’s oft-proven histrionic range is on full display as he transforms himself first from being an orthodox, middle-aged family man to an ageing rebel with a questionable cause and then from a king of the liquor mafia to a father torn between his paternal instincts and his loyalty to a boyhood friend.

But does the impressive star turn have the power to salvage a patchy film that struggles to find an emotional core for its story about the limits of freedom, the perils of militant conservatism and an all-out clash between a father and a son? The two men stand on opposite sides of a moral divide and face off in a fight that endangers many lives.

Unfortunately, neither the ethical questions that arise nor the emotional complications that are triggered by the father-son confrontation assume proportions that can elevate Mahaan to the heights that could do justice to the title. The film’s gloss is strictly surface level.

The general quality of the acting is of a high order. Vikram has support from his real-life son, Dhruv Vikram, cast as his estranged screen son. The cast of the film includes Simran, Bobby Simha, Sananth and Muthukumar in the role of the principal antagonist.

Vikram plays a man from a Gandhian family who is stifled by the burden that his name, Gandhi Mahaan, puts on him. In one of the early scenes following a prelude set in 1968 – it shows three village boys playing a card game that ends in a violent scuffle – it is revealed that the boy’s grandfather was a freedom fighter, his father an anti-liquor activist. Gandhi’s best pal, Sathyavan is, in contrast, the only son of a toddy brewer.

Cut to 1996. On Gandhi Mahaan’s 40th birthday, the staid commerce teacher decides that he has had enough of unquestioning adherence to the morals and principles enjoined upon him by his lineage. He throws caution to the wind. He gambles and drinks himself silly in a bar owned by Sathyavan, with whom he reconnects in the city quite by chance.

That one bacchanalian night changes the course of Gandhi Mahaan‘s life forever. In a drunken state, he kicks up a huge kerfuffle when he returns home with Sathyavan (Bobby Simha) and the latter’s son Rocky (Sananth). A couple of slaps and angry words are exchanged. Matters spiral out of control and Gandhi’s wife Nachi (Simran) and son Dada leave him for good. Soon after, the landlord orders the man to vacate the house.

Left to his own devices, the hero bounces back quickly by setting up a liquor empire in partnership with Sathyavan, finds a son in Rocky and makes rapid strides in the business with a mix of calculated risks and strongarm tactics. At one point, Gandhi Mahaan admits that while he has the gift of the gab, he isn’t particularly adept at using his fists. But don’t let that declaration fool you.

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