“For my 1st film, let me make a full-fledged action film.”
But most Tamil films these days are centred only on action!
Yes, but let me bring back the OG of action – Action King Arjun – to the Tamil big screen.
But betting completely on Arjun, that too as an action hero after so many years, may backfire.
So, apart from Arjun, we will also have a few others around him who will do equally good action.
But bringing in other equally good action heroes alongside Arjun will inflate the budget and make it a risky proposition.
Instead of other heroes, what if we have his family members involved in the action as a team?
But brothers, uncles, as a group in action, is too old stuff.
No, I am saying we will bring his daughter, that too a grown-up, his wife and his younger brother, also into the action arena.
Wow… great idea. Arjun as the main action hero, with his grown-up daughter and his wife as a team of protagonists, taking on the villain?
Not just one villain, but a battery of villains – from a small-time petty thief to a small group of henchmen to a supari killer to a corporate villain at the end.
But will this not be too monotonous?
No, we will have a bit of Lokesh Kanakaraj’s action, a bit of Nelson’s dark comedy, a bit of Atlee’s citizen vigilantism, a bit of Nithilan Swaminathan’s screenplay style and finally bring in a bit of Drishyam into the film.
That’s a “Killer” idea (pun intended). Let’s write the full script and hit the floors!
I suspect this was the conversation that might have run through the mind of Director and writer Subash K. Raj while conceiving this film. In one way, a Blast is a blast from the past. A full-on action film designed for big-screen viewing, with planned high moments that work brilliantly. These high moments are obviously well-choreographed action set pieces, as we saw in Jailer, involving not just Arjun but also his daughter, played with aplomb by Preity Mukhundhan, and his wife, played by a pulled-down Abhirami. The leads into these action sequences are well-conceived and well-woven into the screenplay. The one-line story is simple and old-fashioned. It is about a simple middle-class family that gets sucked into a larger conspiracy by chance that has an overarching societal impact. How they wriggle out of it is the rest of the film.
The family is set up as exponents of karate and martial arts, with Arjun as a professional karate master. They are trained not to take physical hurts lying down. How they initially take on individuals and the villains, through a clever interplay among casual events, individuals, and the system, makes the film interesting.
The director takes his time to set the world for Arjun and his family. He runs a Karate school. His wife, Abhirami, does tailoring. Their daughter, Preity, has just joined a BPO. Arjun’s brother is single and runs a pharmacy. In a parallel universe, the corporate villain and his gangs are busy peddling their business interests illegally, of course. With a few scenes, all these characters are defined and established. Then an intersection occurs, for which the pharmacy has a role to play. Then the action set pieces take over.
The film has logical loopholes. The action sequences, once the initial novelty wears off, become repetitive. The familiar “Corporate villain” trope of Tamil cinema is a yawn. Yet the film keeps us engaged thanks to clever writing that delivers wry humour, an intelligent screenplay that connects what seem like disparate dots and characters, and some pitch-perfect performances from most of the cast.
Preity Mukhundhan is pretty and petite. Yet she packs a realistic punch in the action sequences. This could be a turning point in her career and catapult her to the next league. Glad to see Arjun back. He still commands a huge screen presence and, with his measured performance, elevates the frame. Abhirami is also expected to excel in action sequences, and she literally punches above her weight. Vivek Prasanna, as Arjun’s brother, and Dileepan, as a cop, are other actors who stand out.
Blast belongs to the category of a full-on masala entertainer. It is what I call an FTP (Full Time Pass) film, one that could have been enjoyed better in a theatre with people, whistles, and tubs of popcorn. I must add that AGS, which has produced this film, has an eye for commercial entertainers that work well at the box office. Blast is just out on Netflix.
My Flash Verdict: A good one-off watch.
AnandKumarRSonFilms 
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