'Bison' showcases the triumph of dreams amidst caste struggles

Movie review: Bison

Cast: Dhruv Vikram, Pasupathy, Ameer, Lal, Anupama Parameswaran and Rajisha Vijayan

Director: Mari Selvaraj

Rating: 9/10

BISON, directed by Mari Selvaraj, is a big, bold and unabashed Kollywood movie that stars Kollywood hunk Dhruv Vikram, the son of megastar Kollywood hero Chiyan Vikram.

Chiyan handed over his mantle to Dhruv to continue and he shines in this movie as Kittan, the son of Vellusamy, a former kabaddi player, played by respected Kollywood actor Pasupathy. 

The latter incidentally starred in a few movies with Chiyan, so it was no surprise when Selvaraj chose Pasupathy to play Dhruv's father. The chemistry between them was endearing. 

Bison is a raw, realistic and sobering movie that brings to the fore the sordid world of caste and language biasedness.

Kittan (Dhruv) lives with his father Velusamy and sister Raji (Rajisha Vijayan) in a rural village in Tamil Nadu. Kittan is obsessed with the sport of kabaddi, which is popular in South Asia and is known by different names. Velusamy was a champion at kabaddi in his younger days but he had to give up the sport due to outside forces. He, therefore, tried his best to dissuade Kittan from taking up the sport as the village was sharply divided over it. 

The village caste system comes into focus - and only the high caste players are encouraged to win and continue playing the sport whereas the poor, mainly low caste players, are ignored. If they are good at the game, they are beaten and maimed to discourage them from progressing. 

A teacher observes Kittan's talent, and he takes Kittan under his wings and trains him to compete professionally. Kittan's dad is angry that his son is being encouraged to pursue his dream of becoming the first Indian kabaddi champion in his village. He knows that if his son continues down this path, then his life will be in jeopardy.

We feel the emotions that Kittan experiences. We wince when he undergoes pain physically or emotionally. We applaud when he succeeds in winning back the love of his life. We are held in rapt attention and silently edge him on when he competes and triumphs for his village and his country in the finals of the South Asian games in Japan.

Bison is a movie that celebrates triumph over adversity, love over hatred and never ever letting go of your dreams. It is a rollercoaster of a movie. The saving grace is that you do not feel the run time of over three hours as Bison keeps the viewer fully engaged. 

Kudos to Selvaraj who has yet again come up trumps with another hum-dinger. Cinematographer Ezhil Arasu K made certain that the essence of the story lingers in our memories, thanks to his style of capturing all the scenes in an alluring manner.

Stunt director Dhilip Subbarayan has certainly not disappointed. The fight scenes are raw, gritty and realistically choreographed and he uses Dhruv to convincingly showcase his fighting prowess. Music director Nivas K Prasanna must be applauded for the excellent background score and music.

Dhruv has electric screen presence, while Pasupathy easily played one of his best roles in a while. All the artistes and crew have come together in offering 2025's most entertaining movie to date. 

Bison is showing at CineCentre Suncoast in Durban.

Michael Lachimiah is an MC. He has worked in community radio and on internet radio platforms.

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