Today in this episode of Movie Snippets, I am going to recommend you the movie Sarpatta Parambarai.
Sarpatta Parambarai is one of the best-made sports movies in India. It’s a boxing-themed movie set in the mid-1970s in the north Madras region. Back in the day, Madras had a boxing culture where the ancestors learned the game from the British and it eventually became popular in the region.
After a few years, like everything in India, the sport and the players got divided into clans and they started fighting for their supremacy in the region. This movie is about the battle between Sarpatta Parambarai and Idiyappa Parambarai.
A supremely well-researched and elegantly written movie, where all the characters play an important role in enhancing the experience of the movie. The number of character traits that you see and the diversity in the roles gave it an extra brownie point in adding up to the good things that the makers have done.
A Pa Ranjith film is political in itself and it doesn't have to shout out loud about the ideologies or the philosophies of the characters in the movie, it is there for you to see and enjoy the various views. A take on the class discriminations of that time, the emergency unrest in the country, Tamil Nadu internal politics and the ideologies of the different party members and the hope that a single person from the backward regions can bring to the place — everything is chalked out beautifully in the film.
All the actors put out their best foot forward — Arya, Pasupathy, John Vijay, Dancing Rose and Mariamma steal the thunder from all the others. The bout between Kabilan and Dancing Rose is an exceptionally crafted sequence of the movie. Dancing rose also stands out as the man with the principles and as someone with dignity in playing the sport and not just winning.
Multiple moments grab your attention but for me, the wonderful background score by the ever-impressive Santosh Narayanan throughout the movie, the scene in the end where Mariamma asks Kabilan, what pride is there in the parambara, and what happens if you lose, it's just a sport and people win and lose at all times so there's no big deal., kabilan — rose fight, Kabilan Raman fight and the exciting chemistry between Kabilan and Rangan Vaathiyar.
A movie that reflected the times with the characters in the movie and not the usual props, engaging boxing sequences, well chalked out characters and ultimately not making you feel bored for even a minute in the entire 2 hours 43 mins of the movie. A sublime success to the entire team. More power to them and hoping for better sports movies in the coming years.
Please do watch the movie and let me know what you felt about it in the comments section.
