Dragon Movie Review: If one is good only because of the fear of repercussions, are they really good people? If one is disillusioned with the idea of being perfect, wants to live life on the fly, make mistakes and amends along the way, are they really bad people? Now, with most questions regarding the existential crisis of being a good person in a seemingly bad world, these also don’t have concrete answers. Director Ashwath Marimuthu attempts to tell a story of a guy who descends into the depths of depravity only to find the shortest of ropes to hold on and crawl back to redemption. A guy named D Ragavan aka Dragon.ALSO READ: Nilavukku Enmel Ennadi Kobam Movie Review: A pleasant no-frills love story that mixes old school with new coolInterestingly, Dragon begins with the introduction of Ragavan as a studious topper in school, who is also a gold medallist in Computer Science. Why is this detail important? We’d get there. But when he proposes to someone he fancies, she lets him know that her heart is set on rebellious boys who have a wild streak. So, what does Ragavan do? He turns into a hooligan masquerading as a student. In fact, even if it might seem that the film glorifies the idea of having a protagonist who is a wastrel at best and a ruffian at worst, the film pegs him as someone who is lonely.He is used and discarded, but he doesn’t know it yet. This is the first glimpse into how these ‘college kings’ lead a rather lonely life outside it. Yes, the five friends he made in college stick by him through thick and thin, but Ashwath doesn’t shy away from showing how their patience is waning. Yes, the love of his life is sticking around, but her patience is running thin too. This here isn’t a film that glorifies the protagonist as an alpha male, but instead elevates two other male characters that might seem ordinary. There’s George Maryam playing Dhanapal, the naive but supportive father of Ragavan, and Mysskin as Mayilvahanam, the ethical yet accommodating principal of the engineering college where Ragavan became Dragon.Here’s the Dragon trailer:But for a while, this life looks all hunky dory. His friends, parents and lover take care of him. And he just whiles away time because his behaviour isn’t questioned. He fibs around and lies, and the only reason he doesn’t do something illegal is because he doesn’t have the required resources. Nevertheless, we know that when his way of life is questioned, he will turn over a new leaf. But does he, really? That subversion is a smart choice, and this smartness is a constant in the film. Every few minutes of Dragon is a complete movie in itself with an individual start, a high point, a low point, a revelation, and then a neat end.Dragon is filled with such micro cinema, and most of them tilt things in favour of the film. There are also enough elements embellished in each character that there are beautiful payoffs for each seemingly arbitrary trait. As said earlier, his proclivity for computer science comes to the fore at the right time. His style of flicking his cigarette isn’t just a style statement. A throwaway line about a guy studying during the culturals has a wonderful recall, and so does the various short cuts Ragavan takes to reach the top of his career. A wonderful play involving the goodwill of his father, a rented house, and its owner.In fact, these callbacks are almost perfect because most of them feel random and test our patience when it comes about the first time. So, to see it find its own arc is redemptive. However, there are some stretches that aren’t engaging enough. And the film asks us to take such big leaps of faith that the fantasy element in Ashwath’s debut, Oh My Kadavule, feels more connected to reality.Story continues below this adNevertheless, Dragon is a film that is all heart, and uses all its smartness to keep us engaged, and even pull the rug from under our feet. In such films, it is okay to go wrong with our predictions because that is exactly why we would remember them more fondly. Yes, Ragavan would turn a new leaf… but is it in the moment we think he will? Yes, the worlds of Mayilvahanam and Ragavan have to coincide… but it happens just when you have conveniently been made to forget the former exists. Ashwath paces the screenplay in such a way that he has the audience eating out of his hands, and it feels like we are puppets who willingly submit ourselves to the ride in the hope of getting entertained. Mysskin and Pradeep Ranganathan in a still from Ashwath Marimuthu’s DragonExtra points to Ashwath for treating almost all his characters with immense dignity. We have seen roles like Mayilvahanam before, but the way Mysskin plays it, with terrific support from the writing, makes it one of the most memorable teacher characters in Tamil cinema. He had the space and the liberty to become over-the-top, but it is wonderfully reined in. On the other hand of the spectrum is Pradeep Ranganathan who takes care of the required loudness in the film. He ventures into the caricaturish zones, but it hardly becomes grating only because the character has to go down that path for the return to normalcy to be resounding.In between these two towering performances, Ashwath fits in the women of the film — Ragavan’s mother Chitra (Indumathi), Ragavan’s ex-lover Keerthy (Anupama Parameswaran), and Ragavan’s fiance Pallavi (Kayadu Lohar). Each of them turn up wonderful performances even if they are, unfortunately, relegated to being increasingly one-note. However, there are a few nuances in their characterisation that elevates them from being just cardboard cutouts. Look at how Ragavan’s mother responds to the final revelation, and is caught between a rock and a hard place. Look at how Keerthy talks about her guilt, even if it feels misplaced, and comes to terms with her own anguish. Look at how Pallavi talks about her non-negotiables when it comes to choosing her life partner. All these show the actor’s abilities to rise above the template, but it also lays bare the writing’s inability to make them do little else. Anupama Parameswaran, Kayadu Lohar and Pradeep Ranganathan in a still from DragonInterestingly, Pradeep and Ashwath, with able support from composer Leon James and cinematographer Niketh Bommi, create multiple separate worlds that manage to converge at the right times and deliver the right highs. But the film also hits its fair share of lows throughout the narrative, but kudos to the team for not wallowing in them for too long, and jumping right back into the groove. While the initial portions involving a competent Harshath Khan felt like a downer, it redeems itself with a lot of sincerity. Actually, it is this sincerity that is the hallmark of Dragon. The film is sincere when it shows Ragavan as a ‘don’ of the college, a wastrel outside it, a success story when he gets his first job, and even when his world goes upside down thanks to one request from his lover. The smarts in the writing and sincerity in the approach outweighs the slips that threaten to derail the narrative.Story continues below this adALSO READ: Director Ashwath Marimuthu on making the ‘socially responsible’ Dragon: ‘You might hate me or Pradeep Ranganathan, but…’But make no mistake, Ashwath and Co have delivered a heavily preachy yet immensely entertaining films in recent times. There are so many messages in the film ranging from respecting your parents, the importance of proper education, understanding the realities of life, apologising at the right times, the power of truth over the comfort of lying, and to paraphrase Aamir Khan from Rang De Basanti, “Inside the college, our lives dance to our tunes… outside it, we dance to life’s tunes.” And Pradeep and Ashwath cook up a film that lets the audience know that inside the theatre, we are dancing to their tunes, and one good thing is that the tune is really really entertaining.Dragon Movie Cast: Pradeep Ranganathan, Mysskin, Anupama Parameswaran, Kayadu Lohar, George Maryam, KS RavikumarDragon Movie Director: Ashwath MarimuthuDragon Movie Rating: 3.5 / 5