Vetrimaaran is a highly successful director in the Tamil film industry, and his movies have been remade in other languages as well. His work is known to be socially apt and sound, as it focuses on the various aspects of societal problems. He came up with another such concept in the form of Jallikattu, a web series, for which he served as the creator of the show. The series was released on Aha Tamil last year, and has been released in Telugu now. Let’s see how it has turned out to be.
Story:
The leading man of the story, played by Kaliyarasan, is in love with a girl. In order to gain her love and be able to marry her, he needs to tame a bull that needs to take part in the Jallikattu sport. He does this through tricks, and in the process, he tries to unite two warring families. How he does all this forms the rest of the story.
On-Screen Performances:
Kaliayarasan plays a boy who isn’t really serious about anything other than being successful in love, and is ready to go to any extent to do that. He is good enough in his role, and is convincing as a villager who needs to tame a bull for the Jallikattu sport. He’s alright in the emotional scenes as well.
Sheela, who is the leading lady of the series, doesn’t have a lot to do, but does what she is given well enough. The series looks like it might expand on her character in the seasons to come.
Vela Ramamoorthy, the primary antagonist of the series, is menacing and highly convincing as the antagonist. While does nothing new as the antagonist, his act is nevertheless good enough.
The rest of the supporting cast are fine in their roles.
Off-Screen Talents:
Rajkumar is the director of Jallikattu, and he has managed to weave a believable story around the sport. Certain scenes and sequences have been carried out quite well, and the places are also very natural, which adds to the authenticity of the craft of storytelling. Having said that, the setting of Jallikattu is nothing new to the Telugu audience, who have seen a similar story in many Telugu films that came out in the past, like Kabaddi Kabaddi, etc. Moreover, the Tamil nativity of the series shines through everything else, which removes the audience from getting a proper experience of watching the series. When there are so many other series with a predominantly Telugu nativity available to watch online, Jallikattu doesn’t really serve a lot of purpose. For the purpose of knowing what the Jalliattu sport is, there’s a Malayalam movie that does the job much better.
The cinematography and visuals of Jallikattu are raw, and showcase the setting of a village well. The Jallikattu sports sequences have been shot well too.
The background score by Santosh Narayanan is a major asset for the series, as it adds a lot of depth to every scene, and every scene is better because of it. The editing could have been much better.
Plus Points:
- Background score
- Cast Performances
Minus Points:
- Lack of nativity
- Routine story
Verdict: Jallikattu doesn’t offer anything new to the audience, and is a mixture of a story that has already been seen many times before, with the sport of Jallikattu added in between. With the fact that there’s a lack of nativity, watch it only if you have nothing better to watch, otherwise skip it.
Telugu bulletin.com Rating: 2.25/5