Blast Review: Fun, Action-Packed Ride

Blast mixes engaging family drama with massy martial arts mayhem to deliver a thoroughly entertaining action ride, notes Sreeju Sudhakaran.

As a Malayali viewer, Subhash K Raj’s Blast almost feels like what you would get if the protagonist(s) of Drishyam, or Papanasam for Tamil audiences, is put in a Rifle Club-like situation, except they have only have their hands as their weapons. Fun idea, innit?

The film stars Arjun Sarja, Abhirami and Preity Mukhundhan as a family that finds itself caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous criminal syndicate.

Or rather, it is the syndicate that ends up in the crosshairs of this seemingly ordinary family with some seriously lethal karate skills.

What’s Blast About?

Rajaraman (Arjun) is a karate instructor who has trained his daughter in self-defence since childhood, while also teaching her to stand up for the helpless.

His wife Neelaveni (Abhirami) was once a karate prodigy herself, though she is now content managing the household. She is less enthusiastic, however, about her husband constantly fuelling the fire within their daughter.

Rajaraman’s younger brother (Vivek Prasanna), who runs a medical shop, also lives with them.

As an adult, Nila (Preity Mukhundhan) has clearly absorbed her father’s teachings. She stands up for the vulnerable and needs no one to defend her from lecherous bosses or chain-snatching thieves.

How these acts of courage eventually bring the family into conflict with powerful mining baron Varun (John Kokken), his dangerous lieutenant Abraham (Arjun Chidambaram), and local gang leader Kirubakaran (Pawan Krishna) forms the crux of the story.

Dynamic Action, Engaging Screenplay

Right from the outset, Blast establishes that this is not a family to be trifled with, and it does so rather effectively, particularly in the way Rajaraman encourages Nila to stand up not just for herself but also for others.

I did wish either the trailer or the opening stretch had not revealed earlier that Nila’s mother was also a karate expert, which would have made her eventual entry into the action even more impactful. Still, that is hardly a major complaint.

Subhash K Raj understands how to place its action blocks at the right moments while ensuring each fight carries the necessary powerful punch. There is always an inherent thrill in watching heroes defend the innocent and dismantle bullies and predators, and the film taps into that energy quite successfully.

Phoenix Prabhu’s stunt choreography deserves particular praise here. The action sequences are staged with impressive dynamism and believability without going overboard.

Pradeep E Ragav’s editing further sharpens these scenes, especially considering not all the lead actors are ‘Action King’, if you catch my drift. Though, as someone who is certainly no karate expert, I do suspect not everything happening on screen strictly qualifies as karate.

I also want to appreciate Cinematographer Arun Radhakrishnan for brightly lighting the action scenes in a way that allows viewers to fully savour the mass appeal of watching the protagonists dismantle their enemies.

Ravi Basrur’s score occasionally becomes overpowering in certain stretches, but it is still used far more effectively used here here than in this week’s other release, Kattalan.

So if you are watching Blast purely for the action, you are genuinely in for a blast.

Some standout moments include Nila teaching her sleazy boss a lesson inside a car, the first attack on the family home, and the sequence involving Abraham facing off against the family (which comes with a mildly predictable yet enjoyable surprise).

Rajaraman’s screenplay is also smart enough to build a believable domino effect that gradually escalates the conflict between this middle-class family and their powerful enemies. Interestingly, it all begins with a simple act of kindness.

The police officers, for a refreshing change, are depicted as morally upright, which adds another engaging layer to the web of events.

There are also amusing comic touches sprinkled throughout, including a goon misunderstanding Rajaraman’s profession and later concocting his own hilariously inaccurate theory about certain events that he certainly didn’t witness.

Unconvincing Third Act

Of course, Blast can’t happen without leaving some debris in its wake.

The sudden moral shift from a family that initially uses karate purely for self-preservation to one that transitions rather casually into hardcore killing machines without much ethical conflict does not feel entirely convincing.

There is also this recurring tendency for characters to over-explain things purely for the audience’s benefit rather than because the scene organically demands it. For instance, Abraham is portrayed as extremely shrewd and resourceful, so it feels out of character when he goes into unnecessary detail explaining why his wallet is so important to him.

The third act is also somewhat disappointing compared to the rest of the film.

The screenplay repeatedly hammers home the villain’s eventual plans for an entire village and how Nila’s insistence on standing up for ordinary people will tie into that larger conflict.

But these ideas had already been established effectively earlier, and the film could easily have trimmed several minutes by reducing repetitive visual reminders, particularly the glimpse of a wedding taking place in that village.

What kind of dampened things for me the most in these portions is how Blast takes increasingly unbelievable liberties with how easily the family erases evidence of their involvement in major incidents, loopholes that would probably make Georgekutty from Drishyam (or Suyambulingam from Papanasam) slap his forehead in frustration. The ingenuity is completely amiss here.

Likewise, the ease with which this middle class family gains access to ‘powerful corridors’ stretches credibility. This lack of restraint somewhat undermines the grounded underdog tone that the earlier portions worked hard to establish.

The Performances

Arjun Sarja is in complete command here, compellingly believable (of course) when throwing punches and quietly restrained when shaping his daughter into someone unafraid to fight back. The father-daughter dynamic is warmly written and gives the film its sweet backbone amidst all the mayhem.

Abhirami initially appears trapped in the familiar ‘concerned mother’ mould, only for the film to flip the switch once she ties up her hair and starts taking down villains herself. And honestly, she looks absolutely badass doing it.

At the centre of it all, though, is Preity Mukhundhan, who leaves a solid impression as Nila, whether she is burning holes through her enemies’ psyches with icy stares or casually flooring them with a sweep kick. This feels like the kind of role that finally pushes her beyond the ‘PYT’ space some of her earlier films boxed her into, allowing her to showcase far more dynamic screen presence and physicality.

Vivek Prasanna, meanwhile, brings easy charm and humour as the lovable uncle.

Arjun Chidambaram, John Kokken, Dileepan, Vinod Sagar and Pawan Krishna are all reasonably effective in their respective parts as well.

In conclusion, I must admit I wished Blast landed its punches more cleanly in its third act, but when this family goes Hum Saath Saath Hain in decimating the bad guys, it is hard not to cheer along.