Naadodigal 2 Movie Review: Some good moments, but message-first approach bring down Naadodigal-2

Naadodigal 2 Movie Synopsis: On the night of his wedding, a social activist learns that the girl he has married was forced to agree to the marriage by her casteist family, and sends her off with her lover. But the girl's family is determined to find the couple, murder them and uphold their caste pride. Can the activist and his 'sago's save them?

Naadodigal 2 Movie Review: Samuthirakani's Naadodigal was a sleeper hit in 2009, and this spiritual sequel shows how much the his priorities have changed as a writer and director over the past decade. Despite the heavy-handed messaging, Naadodigal was in essence the story of three idealistic youngsters. But over the years, Samuthirakani has started looking at cinema as a medium that is in service of the messages (it is never just one message with this director) that he wants to convey. Story and characters are down the order when compared to the messages. In fact, in a particular sequence in Naadodigal-2, the quotes of people like Mao and Churchill are flashed on screen pushing the action to the backdrop. This approach has only lead to uneven storytelling and crude filmmaking so much so that his films have begun to feel exploitative.

Naadodigal-2 lies very much in this space, often sacrificing story to drive home the messages. In addition to the anti-caste message, we get messages on supporting transgenders, NEET imposition, and more. Heck, there is even a character - perhaps a stand-in for the director - who appears every now and then spouting messages.

The story revolves around Jeeva (Sasikumar, earnest in yet another role of an idealist), a social activist, who decides to begin a crusade against caste. Why? Because he and his fellow activists see a video of a honour killing. In the world of Samuthirakani, even the common act of viewing a video can be transformative. And so, he decides to conduct a conference gathering like-minded youngsters who abhor caste. But the leader of a caste party turns the event into a riot. Cue reference to the jallikkattu protest.

Meanwhile, Jeeva's marriage gets fixed (after many rejections), but on the night of his wedding, he learns that Sowmya (Athulya), the girl who's now his wife, was forced to agree to the marriage by her casteist family. Being the revolutionary that he is, Jeeva sends her off with her 'lower caste' lover (Esakki Bharath), but the girl's family is determined to find the couple, murder them and uphold their caste pride. Can Jeeva save the youngsters, who are naive beyond belief?

It is only after it establishes its plot that Naadodigal-2 becomes moderately engaging. The narrative becomes taut, the scenes get some amount of intensity and we get something of the rush that Naadodigal provided. There is even anl romance - between Jeeva and Sengodi (Anjali, in a character that has spunk but is somewhat underwritten), a fellow activist, that is beautifully brought out. And to his credit, Samuthirakani doesn't turn Jeeva into a superhero. We get moments where he is genuinely stunned not knowing what to do next. He is even overpowered in a stunt scene, requiring another character to save the day. And it is these touches that make us even more aware of the film’s shortcoming, thanks to its message-first approach.