P.Vasu has predominantly been known for sentimental movies. But recent flops like
Vannathamizh Paattu and
Seenu proved that he has lost his touch when it comes
to movies focussing on relationships and emotions. But he also made the occasional
comedy with movies like Nadigan , which were
more enjoyable than his other efforts. But Asathal, again with Satyaraj in the
lead, proves that Vasu has lost his touch and run out of ideas in comedies also.
Vetri(Satyaraj), Venu(Vadivelu) and Victor(Ramesh Khanna) are three friends, spending
their time having fun. Of the three, Vetri is the rich one while the other two
are simply taking advantage of his riches. For this reason, they do not want him to
get married while his uncle(Manivannan) desperately tries to get him hitched.
A pregnant woman, on the run from a henchman, delivers her baby in Vetri's house and
dies before revealing who the father is. Vetri announces in court that he is the baby's
father but this lands him in more hot water than he had expected.
Most of the characters in the movie suffer from a profound lack of intelligence. And
the stupidity of only one of them, the assassin, is used for laughs. So the acts
of the others just seem dumb. Foremost among them is the father of the baby, who for
no descernible reason, attempts to kill the baby. How exactly can a baby who is a few
months old pose a danger to him? And even if he fears the mother may have revealed his
identity to Satyaraj, shouldn't he try and kill Satyaraj instead? As for the henchman
he uses to kill the baby, the dumb villains in movies like Home Alone are the
obvious inspiration for him as he goes about stumbling and tumbling.
Though the initial situation of three men getting stuck with a baby and developing
an attachment towards it may remind one of the Hollywood flick Three Men and a
Baby, the rest of the proceedings have nothing to do with it. Barring a few
scenes, the baby plays no part in the happenings as the director concentrates
more on the three heroes finding partners. While the baby himself is cute, the
graphics used at a few places to simulate his expressions and gestures are cheesy
and artificial. The director has also hoped to generate some suspense regarding
Ramya Krishnan's motive for entering the house but fails as the motive is obvious
from the first moment.
Vasu has apparently mistaken comedy for vulgarity while designing the comic situations
in this movie. Most scenes where Vadivelu or Ramesh Khanna interact with their
respective heroines are crude and vulgar. But Satyaraj and Ramya Krishnan have few
encounters and their romance is rather low-key. There is one sequence where the trio
go in search of a cow that has been awkwardly inserted solely to garner laughs.
The sequence is crude but succeeds in its aim of making us laugh.
The hangover of the success of Ennammaa Kannu has
still not worn off for Satyaraj as he plays his character exactly the same way. But
the weak dialogs don't do much for him. Ramya Krishnan enters the house in the garb
of an old, unmarried mami(a la Avvai Shanmugi) but soon re-enters in her
regular mode. She looks pretty but has nothing much to do. Vadivelu and Ramesh Khanna
do what they can to make us laugh. But one
can't help sympathise with Swathi over her plight. The actress, who was paired with
actors like Vijay not too long ago, is paired with Ramesh Khanna and has little
screen time. Bharadwaj obviously saves his best tunes for director Charan since
none of his songs here are memorable.
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