What: It has become hard to write about Tamil cinema without mentioning Quentin Tarantino. His influence is now omnipresent. While most try only to emulate his ‘cool’ aesthetics, where even violence becomes fun, Arun Matheswaran digs deeper. It is not just the style; Arun Matheswaran recreates the catharsis that one gets from watching Django Unchained.
Furthermore: It wouldn’t be a stretch to call Captain Miller an Indian Django Unchained. The parallels are obvious. If Django Unchained is the journey of an empowered slave with a bounty hunter, Captain Miller is the story of a caste-oppressed villager. Instead of Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), we have Kannaiya (Elango Kumaravel). For one Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), we have many stand-ins like Kumastha Kanagasabai (Kali Venkat) and sepoy James (Ashwin Kumar). Of course, the politics of black slavery and Indian casteism are two different oppression machines, and that’s where Arun Mateswaran’s brilliance lies. He brings in so many layers to this political drama, which masquerades as an action-driven star vehicle.
We say: This is an Indian Express review which we thought aptly weighed the film.
