Dragon Review: Pradeep Ranganathan Smokes, Scams & Softens
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
D Ragavan is the quintessential ‘good boy’, he scores 96% in his board exams, wins academic medals, has his entire future planned out and asks his crush out on the last day of high school. But when the girl rejects him for the class loafer called Rambo, who doesn’t even clear all his exams, Ragavan re-christens himself as Dragon and lives it up in college, skipping classes, getting into fights, accumulating over 40 arrears, and a whole lot of trouble.
Directed by Ashwath Marimuthu, the Tamil movie ‘Dragon’ stars Pradeep Ranganathan (‘Love Today’) as the titular protagonist, while Anupama Parameswaran (‘Tillu Square’) plays his college sweetheart Keerthi. Actor Mysskin plays Mayilvahanan, the college principal who is tired of Dragon’s antics, and cites Dragon as an example for ‘what not to do’ during presentations for freshers into his college. He is essentially the poster-boy for his college, but as the ‘worst student’ ever. Yeah, exaggerations like that are interspersed throughout the runtime, but okay, we’ll go along with it for the fun.
Obviously, Dragon is a mass-masala movie, with a larger-than-life hero who almost always has things working out in his favour. In the first half, he drops out of college, leeches off his girlfriend, friends, and parents, while spinning an entire yarn-shop worth of lies every day. A typical day in Dragon’s life involves watching TV, making lip-sync videos, getting his girlfriend to order him chicken biryani while she slogs at her teaching job, and smoking through packs of cigarettes. His idle antics and hedonistic lifestyle (that’s dependent on the kindness of others BTW) is glorified with unapologetic glee.
The first half is exaggerated fun, but also slightly slow and frustrating to watch because it feels formulaic, and you wonder, “Where is this story going?” When the lies catch up to him, Dragon simply finds a new way to scam those around him, and once again, things work out in his favour. But it’s in the second half that the story truly heats up, as Dragon faces a real trial: the seemingly vengeful principal Mayilvahanan, who threatens to expose him to his parents and fiancée (Kayadu Lohar) unless he accepts a near-impossible challenge. I am not going to say what, because that’s a major spoiler and also the biggest fun point in the movie.
“There are no shortcuts in life” becomes the film’s ultimate message, even though the protagonist’s choices are largely driven by his romantic entanglements. Living in his own bubble, Dragon is forced to grow up and Pradeep Ranganathan entertainingly portrays the protagonist in all his varied shades. The lead actor may not be thrilled with comparisons to actor Dhanush, but he undeniably shares a similar onscreen charm and persona, and that’s meant as a compliment.
Dragon begins as an arrogant, problematic character who is eventually humbled by hard life lessons. While the nearly three-hour runtime feels overdrawn, the film’s entertaining final stretch makes it worth your time.
Rating: 7 on 10. Watch ‘Dragon’ on Netflix.
Read Next: Dabba Cartel Review: Women Gang Delivers the Highs
Also Read: Nadaaniyan Movie Review: Cringe Max (audio version below)
