Whenever a well-known actress takes on the role of the goddess, it is a sure sign that
the actress, once a top heroine, is now past her prime. After Ramya
Krishnan( Nageswari ,
Sri Raja Rajeswari ),
Meena( Paalayathu Amman ) and
Banupriya( Thaali Kaatha Kaaliamman ), it is now the turn
of Vijayashanthi to don the greasepaint as one of the avatars of Amman. But
her presence is the only attraction in Sri Bannari Amman, which, inspite
of not being helmed by Rama. Narayanan, doesn't offer anything new or different
from the other Amman movies.
Vaanamaalai(Karan) is a politician determined to win the elections. He seeks the
help of a sorcerer(Rajan.P.Dev) who advises him to build a temple for Sri Bannari
Amman. But when this doesn't help him win, both Vaanamalai and the priest lose
confidence in the goddess and instead, turn to the dark side, trying to invoke
the demon Kandasura. Meanwhile the goddess(Vijayashanti) arrives in the village as a
medicine woman to thwart their plans. To escape her, Vaanamaalai weds a local
dancer Bhavani(Laya), who has earned the goddess' blessings that her husband
would not die. But Vaanamaalai succeeds in turning her against the goddess.
With sparingly used graphics and a storyline that is not stuffed with episodes
of the goddess helping her devotees through miracles, the movie begins with the
promise that it might be better than other recent devotional movies. It is a
pleasant surprise to see Vijayashanthi help a villager with the suggestion of
woman power rather than a silly, graphics-aided miracle. But this doesn't last
long and with the arrival of Laya, the movie reverts to the time tested approach.
Things get real confusing as the movie proceeds with there being no apparent
reason for Rajan.P.Dev or Karan to try to eliminate Vijayashanthi. Even the
possible suspense about how Karan would be punished when his wife has received
that she would die a 'sumangali' is forgotten in the mess. The movie lunges
around creating more knots than it can unravel as Laya herself is turned against
the goddess and promises on Amman herself that she wouldn't call the goddess
to her help. The final portions involve everything needed to drive the devout
audience into a frenzy, including a pregnant woman dancing on broken glass!
Vijayashanthi makes a suitable goddess, whether calmly delivering advice or
radiating anger at her enemies. Befitting her status as action queen, she also
has a fight sequence. Karan, who has become a regular in devotional movies these
days, and Rajan.P.Dev are fine as the bad guys. Vadivelu has a comedy track as
a thief and a couple of his episodes, especially the one where he meets
Vijayashanthi, raise some laughs. Kushboo, Sukanya and Nalini have cameos.
T.Rajendar composes the music with suitable songs.
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