Sarpatta Parambarai (2021) | Pa. Ranjith

Sports film in Indian context and culture has mostly been a mediocre affair with only a few names to boast about. With Sarpatta Parambarai, Ranjith gets his name enlisted in that handful of films and his work can be considered one of the finest sports films in the Indian milieu, probably the best since Lagaan.

Ranjith plops together all the cinematic tropes in equal proportion and brews an era spanning epic which chronicles in and around the life of Kabilan, an aspiring boxer in 1970s segregated North Madras, in the backdrop of Indira Gandhi's scandalous emergency declaration.

Ranjith encapsulates the boxing and political knottiness of Madras with utmost flamboyancy, which largely owes to the immaculate production and costume design and maintains a gala flavour throughout Kabilan's anecdote of rise and fall of a sports enthusiast.

What makes Sarpatta Parambarai special is how Ranjith chooses to merge politics, clan rivalries, communal camaraderie with the recurring sports drama. The screenplay also has ample redeeming factors that bolster the film especially the way primary women characters are portrayed.

The boxing sequences are intricately crafted, bolstering of high octane crusades having the local raw crowd madness and the intensity and zeal of the match concurrently juxtaposed together alluringly due to the slick editing. The film could have been half an hour more or less but the editing is pitch-perfect from head to toe.

The only drawback I have is Arya as the leading man's performance. Though he is conceivable in boxing bouts, his offstage act isn't consistent and goes off-road occasionally. But then there are loads of perplexing individuals in the film to root for, which somewhat conceals Arya's actions.

Nonetheless, a quintessential Indian sports drama.