Express News Service
Where does one begin with Mari Selvaraj’s superlative Karnan? Let’s start perhaps by getting the obvious out of the way: the comparisons with the Karnan from mythology.
There’s the constant suggestion that Dhanush’s Karnan has all the makings of a great leader selflessness, benevolence, courage, and the willingness to stand up for the innocent. If Kunti cast away Karnan in Mahabharata, Mari’s Karnan is caste away.
He shares with the mythological hero the yearning for equality and respect. The community of Podiyankulam (named, I suppose, after Kodiyankulam, which suffered a police rampage in 1995), needs a dynamic figure, even if it doesn’t realise it, and from the beginning of Karnan, there’s the indication that the protagonist is a warrior, a saviour.