S Kathiresan is the filmmaker

KP Thirumaran wrote this.

Cast: Kaali Venkat, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Raghava Lawrence, R Sarathkumar, and Poornima 
 

Rudhran, Raghava Lawrence's most recent film, was written by KP Thirumaran, who must be a die-hard devotee of Tamil cinema. He pays respect to earlier films in this genre in every scene because he is sincerely loyal to them. For instance, the protagonist threatens to have her murderer killed by saying, "My husband will find you." Alcoholism is acceptable according to the cop since "he's not drinking for the high, he's drinking to forget his pain." You see what I mean?

I'm being kind when I say "homage," since if it weren't for the obvious plagiarism of characters, settings, and language, it would make me want to vomit. The movie barely has any original content, not even in the manner it is put together.
Despite stealing everything, including two big songs, Rudhran is unable to produce even one sympathetic moment over the course of what feels like an eternity.

A tale of retribution is Rudhran. The main character is the devoted son of model nice parents. He falls in love with a woman he saw giving to underprivileged kids when he was at a stoplight. The bad guy is a property mafia-involved "north-Madras" rowdy with a handy list of rowdy brothers. 
The times change, the hero has to relocate abroad to pay off loan sharks, his mother becomes ill, and his father becomes indebted. His expecting wife disappears in the meanwhile. You can tell Rudhran has seen enough Tamil cinema to be familiar with what happens to pregnant women in vengeance flicks by the way he hardly even looks for her. He finally defeats the villains while smoking something out of a pipe while listening to some nauseating church music.

To be fair, this genre requires predictability, which can occasionally pass for relatability. Nobody watches a big-budget movie with Raghava Lawrence to find out if he will triumph. But is it unreasonable to hope to be amused or even startled in any small way? 

Every scene is set up by director Kathiresan for maximum melodrama, complete with shrill wails and reaction shots. The way the bouts are choreographed by Stun Shiva makes it appear as though everyone is bouncing off everything and that every surface is a trampoline. Editor Anthony makes some really depressing changes to the movie, including replacing a shot of the hero sobbing in the present with one that follows a gorgeously coloured duet in a flashback. In principle, the contrast should warm our hearts, but the movie finds it horribly annoying.

Raghava Lawrence is a little perplexed. In one instance, he portrays the screaming-yelling Singam hero. In another, he performs the act of the innocent man possessed by Kanchana's ghost. When he sobs, he does not elicit any emotions. In three separate songs, he dances in the same boring manner. His humour drives me crazy. He doesn't benefit from the movie, and he doesn't benefit from him.

The only part of the song-fight that held my interest was when Rudhran was stabbed in the back and nearly killed at the end. He imagines his deceased mother tapping his body in his damaged coma and awakens with a gasp. Did he just perform CPR on himself in his head?

I was too tired at that point to bother looking up the solution. Ideologically, politically, and cinematically, Rudhran is a lost cause.