From the time the songs, which were hits, and the trailer got released I knew I will watch the film – The Legend (2022). Produced by Saravana Store‘s owner Arul Saravanan and featuring him as the hero, the film was released on over 600+ screens and even had an early morning show. It was a full house for the first-day evening show in Luxe Cinemas, Chennai.
The action film is not a spoof, is not a parody, but if you imagine it to be one, you would thoroughly enjoy the movie. I and my friends did so and we had a good time. You won’t be able to get through this film on OTT, so go for it in a theatre with your friends and family, and have a laugh all the way.
Dr Saravanan is a world-renowned scientist in biomedicine, with his doctorate from Israel. He returns to his hometown in rural Tamil Nadu to serve the local community, as he calls it “என் மக்கள், என் சொந்தம்!”. A tragedy strikes close to him and he makes a pledge to develop a wonder drug that will cure diabetes for good. As we had seen in films like Rajini‘s Sivaji (2007) This antagonizes the pharma lobby for the fear of losing the billions they make by selling insulin, and one of them Mr VJ comes after Dr Saravanan and his family. In the end, Saravanan becomes a “Legend” by achieving his goals for the greater good.
This film was the last one for the late comedian Vivek and since he was not around to do the dubbing the makers have retained his original voice recorded onsite in its raw form – though jarring it was a nice tribute to the actor. The director-duo JD-Jerry, the stunt master, the choreographer and the entire crew have done the heavy lifting to compensate for Saravanan’s lack of experience in acting – a big kudos to them. Harris Jayaraj with the energetic tunes and background score has kept the movie running along. The two female co-stars for Saravanan, Geethika Tiwari and Urvashi Rautela were forgettable if not for the many songs. The songs were rich, colourful and enjoyable. Throughout the film, Saravanan appears wearing a woollen sweater, a trench coat or a jacket – I can’t imagine anyone doing so in the hot Tamil Nadu. His father, played by veteran Vijayakumar also comes in most scenes on a Nehru-Coat.
The Directors should be appreciated for getting professional medical help (saw the name of a senior doctor from SRM Hospitals, Chennai in the credit roll) to verify the science shown in the film. The hologram visuals of the video call scenes were impressive. In Vivek‘s comedy track, there was a good message on how mobile banking fraud is committed by spurious callers asking for your online transaction OTP.
It is not Arul Saravanan‘s starchy appearance or lack of acting skills, but the unoriginal screenplay and the formulaic characters that let the film down, more work here would’ve made it a better movie. All said I appreciate Arul Saravanan‘s confidence in making this film and acting on it, he surely has established himself as a brand – good for his business empire.
One of the many colourful costumes worn in “The Legend” by Arul Saravanan
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