Cast: Dhanush, Priyanka Arul Mohan, Shivraj Kumar, Elango Kumaravel, Sundeep Kishan, Jayaprakash, Aditi Balan
Crew:
Cinematography by Siddhartha Nuni
Music by GV Prakash
Editing by Nagooran Ramachandran
Written by Arun Matheswaran & Madhan Karky
Directed by Arun Matheswaran
Produced by Sendhil Thyagarajan, Arjun Thyagarajan
Captain Miller Movie Rating: 2.25/5
Dhanush has been one of the most popular actors of Indian Cinema. His script selection matching his acting prowess has landed him in Hollywood biggies as well. As an actor he keeps on surprising with his evolution and confidence in pulling off some impossible emotions convincingly. Him collaborating with a director like Arun Matheswaran, who delivered films like Rocky, Saani Kaayidham, built huge fame for Captain Miller and expectations from the combination have been huge. The movie released for Pongal in Tamil and had a Republic Day release in Telugu. Let’s discuss about the movie in detail.
Plot:
Agneeswara(Dhanush) hails from untouchable community in British Raj, in a village that is under a cruel King, who doesn’t allow villagers into the temple, even though they have built it 600 years ago. His mother believes in a legend and keeps telling stories about how their god comes in the form of humans to save them from annihilation. Agneeswara likes Bhanumati(Priyanka Mohan), who hails from Royal family. But he ends up helping her elope with her lover. Heartbroken he decides to join British Army, against the wishes of his revolutionary brother Sivayya(Shivraj Kumar). He tells to him that rather than facing oppression of Royals, it is better to be treated “respectfully” by British.
There he befriends Rafi(Sundeep Kishan) and British give him an army name, Miller. He wants to be called as “Captain Miller”. His joy gets short-lived as he is forced to kill Indian freedom fighters. He kills his army head, Captain and tries to commit suicide. Rafi saves him and asks him to live for better. He becomes a thief and an arms smuggler. He gets to know that in the firing he and his regiment conducted, Bhanumati’s husband also died. After knowing this, she asks him for a favor. What is it? Where does that lead his story futher? Watch the movie to know more.
Analysis:
Arun Matheswaran has been a very stylish and genre based filmmaker, who could grasp audiences interest with his execution. His writing for his earlier films did fit the premise and characters. While Captain Miller is novel in comparison with other British Raj based oppression and freedom fight movies, Arun again tries to give an experience with execution. It almost feels like he is not interested in lingering around his characters rather than use them as plot tools that commit violence and big fights. He needed to deliver much more character depth to Agneeswara and Bhanumathi, Agneeswara – Sivayya and Agneeswara – Rafi bonds. He keeps going relentlessly from one big action set piece to another without giving us time to connect with characters.
The drama that is waiting to unfold never goes beyond the surface. Lack of depth harms the stylishly handled action sequences. We just feel like the camera swipes, long drone shots, long shots just keeping coming at you than them stitching themselves into a story and lending us dramatic value to be on the side of Miller or others. There are several moments that do stand-out like comparison of lead with Lord and teaming up portions but overall impact is lessened by shallow writing. The episode style narrative and trying to tell what is necessary at the right time does show the intent but they all should have added to the overall experience. Sadly, they don’t.
Dhanush is again good as Miller. He keeps the things highly restrained rather than going overboard. Still, he communicates what he is thinking with his expressions with great ease. Elango Kumaravel, Sundeep Kishan, Jayaprakash all make their mark. Shivraj Kumar is underutilized. Priyanka Mohan did her best but many others have not been utilised as well as the script needed. Music by GV Prakash stands out and the BGM is the biggest asset of the film. Cinematography is also marvellous and stunt choreography is excellent. Had the writing been as good technical brilliance, movie would have been even better.
Positives:
Dhanush’s performance
Production Design
Two action episodes
Sound Editing
Music and BGM by GV Prakash
Negatives:
Underwhelming character writing
Too generic antagonists
Too much left to read between the lines
Gets a bit too repetitive
Captain Miller Movie Bottom-line: Impact less.