Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Parthi is a regular lower-middle class working man running a food stall with his mother, while they aspire to open a small hotel in the market. However, he is falsely arrested for murdering an IAS officer, and finds himself deeper in trouble when he becomes involved in a deadly prison riot that leads to the death of over 40 men.
Directed by Sidharth Vishwanath, the 2024 Tamil prison drama ‘Sorgavaasal’ stars RJ Balaji as protagonist Parthi, while Natty Subramaniam plays Retired Justice Ismail, who leads the inquiry commission into the prison riots. Kattabomman (Karunas), a prison officer gives the first testimony, recalling the events that led to the violence, beginning the tale with the reign of Sigamanni AKA Siga (Selvaraghavan), a powerful gang leader who held power within the prison walls despite being a prisoner. How Parthi’s fate is entwined with Siga’s activities, and who really triggers the prison riot, forms the crux of the tale.
For the first fifteen-twenty minutes of ‘Sorgavaasal’, it’s hard to establish who the hero or the primary protagonist of the movie is, because nobody in the cast has the star power or screen presence to hold viewer’s attention. Selvaraghavan as Siga, the big bad wolf of the prison, only looks the part of a ghastly villain, however, his acting prowess is limited to a two-toned expression. Sharaf U Dheen as SP Sunil Kumar, who transfers to the Chennai Jail from Tihar, is one of the few people in the cast who deliver their parts with conviction.
Except for the ‘poor man trapped in a false case’, the film follows the usual beaten path of prison dramas, dwelling into theatrical representation of two criminal gangs running the shits in the prison. Parthi is accused of being Siga’s henchman, so he tries to clear his name in the murder case, but only finds himself sinking further into the crime cesspool during his imprisonment. RJ Balaji’s performance as Parthi, whose character transforms from a helpless bystander to a frustrated, shrewd prisoner, is adequate in terms of acting, but doesn’t elevate the role to an emotional sucker punch. The lack of punch in Parthi’s character is also due to the weak script, it teeters awkwardly between realistic and theatrics – it’s not realistic enough to be poignant, neither over-the-top enough to woo action fans who’d whistle as films like Rajinikant’s “Jailer” or Shah Rukh Khan’s “Jawan”.
Four of us started watching the movie, only two of us survived until the end, and that’s all you really need to know about how entertaining this is.
Rating: 1.5 on 5. Watch ‘Sorgavaasal’ on Netflix.
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