Remember the classic ‘Veeram na enna nu theriyuma?’ dialogue by Kamal Haasan from Kuruthipunal? He follows it up with, “Bayapadaadha maadhri nadikradhu!” What if Kamal’s Adhi chooses to go for a long-winded dialogue without that crisp explanation? Doesn’t sound like a good idea right? In Mathagam, Gautham Menon’s IAS Thiru Maaran goes on to do exactly this to spoil the entire scene. At a place where we expect him to influence the narrative, he goes on a talkathon with his nemesis. In an ideal web series, Maaran’s character would come across as quite annoying, but we aren’t bothered a lot about him here as the rest of the characters are equally annoying. We are sparsely invested in the series as we hardly have characters to root for and relate to. On the flip side, the characters who are actually grounded and endearing like Vaidehi hardly get space in the story.
Despite Prasath’s consistent attempts to establish stakes for every principal character, we never feel the urgency because of the laidback pacing. Ironically, the tale that unfolds within a night feels like an eternity as the story keeps shifting erratically from one character to another. I understand the director’s intent to build a world for every character through the series instead of restricting his vision to one or two characters, but in that attempt, he unintentionally gives a back seat to his leads in most of the episodes.
His endeavour to make the series grounded by adding realistic obstacles goes overboard at times. For instance, take the scene where Padaalam Sekar (Manikandan) explains his plan to the criminals. They obstruct his speech several times, forcing him to restart again. Though this feels realistic, the way it is played out comes off as unintentionally humurous.
The philosophy of Padaalam Sekar isn’t helping either. In one scene a raging Sekar looks at Nathan in the middle of a forest and says, “Money doesn’t matter right now. It is just a piece of paper. But biryani is food, and we have to get it at any cost.” On the surface level, this could possibly be the most bizarre thing uttered by any villain in Tamil cinema.
But wait, there are layers to it because in a later scene, it is revealed that he actually referred to a biryani truck that is loaded with money. Wait... didn’t Sekar mention that money doesn’t matter when life is at stake? But why is he after it now? Why use biryani as a metaphor for money? Why split a slow-burn drama series like Mathagam into two parts and three weekly segments, dampening the barely existing intrigue? Why did Prasath leave Vaidehi’s character hanging? I guess life doesn’t have answers to certain questions. Definitely, not the ones surrounding Mathagam.
Director: Prasath Murugesan Cast: Atharvaa, Manikandan, Nikhila Vimal, Dhivyadarshini Streaming on: Disney+Hotstar
