PARASAKTHI MOVIE REVIEW
Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Ravi Mohan, Atharvaa, Sreeleela, Rana Daggubati, Basil Joseph
Director: Sudha Kongara
Rating: 4/5
Parasakthi opens with a masterclass in tension. A train hurtling through darkness. Chezhiyan (Sivakarthikeyan) waiting on the tracks. Thirunadan (Ravi Mohan) hunting inside the compartments. Within minutes, you know exactly who these men are and what they’re willing to do. It’s the kind of opening that grabs you by the collar and doesn’t ask permission.
The film takes us into the 1960s agitations in Tamil Nadu, when the imposition of Hindi as an official language sparked a student-led resistance that would alter the state’s political trajectory. Chezhiyan leads the Purananooru Squad, a group of young revolutionaries. His younger brother Chinna (Atharvaa) follows in his footsteps. And Thirunadan, a KGB-trained police officer with ice in his veins, will stop at nothing to crush them.
What strikes one most watching Parasakthi wasn’t the history lesson, though younger audiences will certainly learn something their textbooks glossed over. It was the visceral portrayal of fascism in motion. The film understands how authoritarianism actually operates: provoke, escalate, then crack down. Thirunadan doesn’t just want to catch the protesters. He wants them to turn violent. He needs them to riot so he can justify martial law, more boots on the ground, total control. It’s the picture of a jackboot pressing down on a face, and Sudha Kongara captures that suffocating dread with precision.
At certain points, especially in the second half, the feeling was very similar to the best of Star Wars. The rebels, the Empire with its bureaucratic cruelty, the sympathisers operating in the shadows. Parasakthi has that same texture of resistance against a machine that seems impossible to fight. The binary nature of good versus evil here could have used more shading though.
Sivakarthikeyan delivers one of his strongest performances, convincingly shifting from revolutionary fire to weary resignation and back again. Ravi Mohan plays the villain so well; his quietness is creepy. Atharvaa brings the right youthful energy. Sreeleela had her moments in the climax.
And yes, the romantic stretches. A good portion of the first half feels like filler. Three songs tied to a love track that never quite earns its place in a film this politically charged. It’s understandable that the film would have been a bit too glum and grey, but the romance between the lead pair felt template-driven. The VFX in certain sequences is also noticeably weak. But the film picks up steam in the 15-20 minutes before the interval, and barring one brief love song, the second half drives forward with real urgency.
GV Prakash’s background score elevates the proceedings considerably, finding the right notes between dread and defiance. The period recreation is convincing, the dialogues land with force, and Sudha’s direction ensures the emotional beats hit home. An intense historical drama worth a theatre visit.