When you look at the book of the contemporary Indian cinema industry, Dhanush would have an unskippable chapter filled with audacity and sheer brilliance in acting, which has made him be at peak of the Tamil cinema. What began as a challenging career has now been going through as a remarkable one and he is one of the actors who live up to the essence of the character. Besides appearing in commercial entertainers, Dhanush is etching his path by touching and acting in sensitive subjects. 

After mega-hit 'Asuran', Dhanush has now acted on a similar subject and stepped on the grounds of caste. His much-awaited movie 'Karnan' is out in the theaters on Friday and through this movie, Dhanush has joined hands with 'Pariyerum Perumal' fame Mari Selvaraj. The movie has come with the larger expectation given to its cast and storyline. So how is the movie and whether it has exceeded the expectation? Let's review...

In 1996-2001, the Tamil Nadu Transport corporations were named after the leaders. But, there were agitations in the southern districts of the state against naming the corporations after particular leaders. With the background of these agitations, Mari Selvaraj has made 'Karnan' with the story of Podiyankulam, in the deep suburbs of Tirunelveli district. The movie revolves around how caste dominates and fuels the dispute, and first of all, director Mari Selvaraj must be appreciated for taking a riskier subject and for Dhanush who presented the story to the audience. 

In the wake of agitations between two villages, Podiyankulam village breathes with no bus transport facility or a bus shelter and the people of this village are pushed to ply in the trucks. Amid the agitations, a bus was attacked which escalated tensions. The rest of the story takes the audience to see how the village people faced fresh tensions and disputes. Dhanush has been architecting the acting skills through his real transformation as the character. His acting in the movie neither has a void nor filled with flaws.

Apart from Dhanush's complete acting, Lal, Lakshmi Priya, and Yogi Babu had lived up to their respective roles. Dhanush had carried the entire movie on his shoulder but there was no sign of tiredness or exhaustion. He had just awe-inspired everyone by displaying yet another brilliant acting. His acting and projection were magnificent during the fight sequence in climax. The acting of local villagers had taken the audience, even more, closer to the story and understand its essence. 

Beheaded Buddha statue, a mural with no head, and elephant - horse- donkey...Mari Selvaraj has created something new to this current stage. However, these things come very often which disturbs the audience and the length of agitations in the climax would have been trimmed without being running more length. The fierce dialogues in the movie show that the director has tried to infuse the anger on people through caste. 

The cameras of Theni Eswaran has successfully exploited the audience to the story while Santhosh Narayanan had unveiled his music politics by presenting traditional music in the first half and the latest music based on the prospects. Selva's editing has done justice in taking the story close to the young people who don't know about the battleground. 

Mari Selvaraj has directed his second movie based on the social issues that happened in the 1990s. We can understand that he had taken constructive feedbacks from his first movie 'Pariyerum Perumal' to Karnan. Though there were compromises, Mari Selvaraj's voice was strongly heard. To understand the trouble and protests in this village, we can surely and bravely go to Podiyankulam. 

The movie is definitely a watchable one and it's with no surprise that Dhanush has added another feather to his cap after receiving positive reviews for Karnan. The movie has exceeded the expectations and while Dhanush usually occupies every corner of the screen in his movies, Karnan is occupied with the insights of Mari Selvaraj and he once again has shown that he is here to something revolutionary. Through his audacity, Dhanush has proved yet another time that he is a complete actor and he can't only be put into a commercial mould and that he is the 'Asuran' of Kollywood. Karnan would surely be one of the significant movies of 2021 and it's no surprise for Dhanush fans if he wins the National Award for acting again after Asuran.