Karnan is a socio-political drama, written and directed by Mari Selvaraj, and produced by Kalaipuli S Thanu under the banner, V Creations. It has Dhanush and Rajisha Vijayan playing the lead roles while Lal, Yogi Babu, Lakshmipriyaa Chandramouli and others play crucial supporting roles. Santhosh Narayanan has composed the music and Theni Eswar has handled the cinematography.
In the climax of Mari Selvaraj's previous film Pariyerum Perumal, Pariyan (Kathir) has a fiery conversation with Jo's father (played by Marimuthu), during which, he says "Yer pudicha kai la naanum vaal pudichavan dhan!" And that's exactly what defines the character of Karnan. He is a politically conscious youngster who is impulsive and can seldom control his anger.
A lot of his actions, or rather reaction towards a lot of things makes his village Podiyankulam prone to being destroyed by both the State (comprising the police and the collector) and also the upper caste people of a neighbouring village. The village Podiyankulam doesn't have a bus stop and buses don't stop there. What Karnan does to solve this, forms the story. Although there are multiple sub-plots, they're all twined to the bus stop conflict and that's one place where Mari Selvaraj stands out as a writer.
It's impossible to imagine anyone except Dhanush as Karnan. His screen presence provides enough swagger to the action sequences while his acting in the other scenes melt your heart. He fits perfectly into the character designed by Mari. Among other actors, Lal, Rajisha Vijayan and Lakshmipriyaa Chandramouli score in almost every scene they appear.
Karnan is a mythological character who is known for his sacrifices and friendship with Duryodhana. A lot of films have explored the Mahabharata from the Kauravas’ perspective or Karnan's perspective. One such film is Mani Ratnam's Thalapathi starring Rajinikanth and Mammootty. In this film, Dhanush is seen wearing a Thalapathi T-shirt with Rajini's face on it. But Mari Selvaraj again surprises us by stripping Karnan off all these characteristics.
In mythology, Karnan is said to be the son of the Sun. Here, the film opens with Kandaa Vara Sollunga where one of the lines is - "Suriyanum pekkavilla, Chandranum saatchiyilla". Karnan is associated with Kavasam and Kundalam, while another line in the same song says he lacks both. Mari Selvaraj reimagines the Kavasam and Kundalam as the caste privilege one has.
Similarly, other songs too effectively improve storytelling. You don't have any flashbacks, instead, the songs paint a vivid picture of what happened in the past. The addictive nature of this album from Santhosh Narayanan also ensures the pace doesn't slow down. His background score offers the energy the film needs throughout. The placement of the song ‘Utradheenga Eppov’ is brilliant.
Theni Eswar uses a lot of extreme close-ups and bird's-eye angle shots to capture the scenic beauty that Podiyankulam is. The number of close-ups only reinforces how confident the director is about the performance of his cast and it pays off. In addition to all this, Mari Selvaraj uses various elements of nature, and magical realism to push the narrative forward.
The best part of the film is the interval block where the scene involves Karnan, a donkey and a god (a character like Karuppi from Pariyerum Perumal). The shift in roles between the three is nothing but beautiful writing combined with pure cinematic brilliance. You can't help but gasp at what all Mari Selvaraj does with his control over the craft.