Chronicling Karuppu as a comeback!

I must confess my interest in Tamil commercial cinema is chiefly cultural As in to savour a film industry that supplies its audience entertainment and its partisan politics mdash often making both one and the same thing Consensual collective hypnosis is complete To the extent that it could equally befuddle local intellectual elites sometimesAs I noticed closely following live coverage of 2026 Tamil Nadu TN elections on Prannoy Royrsquos DeKoder wherein The Hindursquos venerated journalist N Ram mdash as with pretty much everyone mdash suggested hardly any seats for superstar Vijay in the fray once results are in Vijay became the chief minister of TNSome of their cynicism couldrsquove also emerged from debutant Kamal Haasanrsquos zeroseat at the 2021 TN elections mdash OG superstar MGRrsquos DMK and its offshoot AIADMK deemed as bulwarks impossible to dislodgedefeat Such stuff remains unparalleled in world cinemarsquos history Also there are tiny pieces of TN everywhere outside TN mdash from San Francisco Singapore to Sion in Mumbai The latter is where I was at to catch the lsquoonlyfanrsquo club screening of superstar Suriyarsquos blockbuster KaruppuAs in at the lowpriced multiplex Moviemax formerly Cinemax the Tamiltentpole favourite in Mumbairsquos central suburb Matungarsquos iconic Aurora is no moreLast time I was inside SionMoviemax was for the first day first show of Vijayrsquos Leo 2023 mdash experiencing the same pandemonium preceding opening credits with men women children screeching dancing blasting confetti from cardboard rocket launchers throughout Leo somehow reminded me of Mukul Anandrsquos Hum 1991 Vijay subsequently quit cinema altogether to enter electoral politics at the peak of his stardomKaruppu is Suriyarsquos comeback film crossing R100 crore at the box office within its first week True for Tamil cinema itself that hadnrsquot posted such footfalls since Rajinikanthrsquos Coolie August 2025Correct me if Irsquom wrong but from my PoV Tamil superstardom seems to operate in twos mdash generationwise MGRSivaji Ganesan RajiniKamal lately DhanushSimbu right before that VijayAjithI know all analogies are reductive But for a Bollywood argumentrsquos sake letrsquos assume that one say Ajith is more Shah Rukh Khan charismatic the other Vijay veering towards Salman massy Irsquove often found Suriya closer to AamirMaybe that connection comes from Ghajini 2005 with Suriya that Aamir remade in 2008 mdash unwittingly birthing Bollywoodrsquos crappy lsquo100 crore clubrsquoAjay Devgn likewise owes Suriya the first Singam 2010 that unveiled Rohit Shettyrsquos Cop Universe thereafter Same with Suriyastarrer Kaakha Kaakha 2003 which launched John Abrahamrsquos Force 2011 franchiseBut itrsquos really two films backtoback which went straight to streaming Prime Video during the pandemic with such sorted subjects that they wouldrsquove equally sailed through without stardom getting in the way of the story mdash Jai Bhim courtroom drama 2021 and Soorarai Pottru biopic 2020 mdash where Suriya earned universal credAkshay Kumar remade Soorarai Pottru as Sarfira 2024 He neednrsquot have Audiences had begun accessing all languages on OTTs What followed the pandemic The colossal lsquopanIndiarsquo theatrical spectaclesHence Suriyarsquos Kanguva 2024 that felt as immeasurably stunning to me as completely soulless And Retro 2025 mdash similarly a senseless saga that frankly I found hard to sit through Karuppu begins with thanks to Vijay in the opening slate mdash paying homage to Leo 2023 later along with hattips to Ajith Rajini Dhanush even Dulquer Salmaan MammoottyhellipThe film is a lethal exposeacute on the stinking rot in the legal system mdash whereby a poor Malayali fatherdaughter duo must excruciatingly suffer to recover their own stolen jewellery from a local court lorded over by a lawyer who owns the judge as wellRJ Balaji plays the villainlawyer Balaji is also writerdirector of Karuppu mdash having offered himself the secondbest role He was in the theatre when I watched the film Audiences rightly went berserk once he got on stage at the intervalThe best way to gauge audience interest is if they get engagingly quiet after the initial euphoria of the filmstar has been swiftly replaced with an actual story being toldFor the most part fans at SionMoviemax did mdash seemingly touched by the earthy everymanrsquos ordeal Sure Karuppu is star swaggercentral still along with customary action blocks Suriya plays God As in Lord Vettai Karuppusamy brought to life The genre is technically supernatural with even Kantara thrown in toward the endBut Lord Karuppu must navigate the local courtroom situation as a mere mortal through honest means limiting his own magical powers mdash thatrsquos the challenge The point being even God canrsquot savefix this systemFrankly this is the kinda script that could be elevated to Munnabhai levels in the hands of say Abhijat JoshiRajkumar Hirani reworking its successive drafts Vijay played Aamirrsquos role in the Tamil remake of Hiranirsquos 3 Idiots Nanban Irsquom told Suriya was the original choiceBut I watched Karuppu more for what it is mdash than what it could be At some point a character wonders why God doesnrsquot come down to solve other problems Good pointMaybe God does answer our prayers mdash he says no I can see why audiences said yes to this film thoughMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper