After viewing Poovellaam
Kaettuppaar and Minsaara Kannaa
I had complained that tamil cinema directors were incapable of
directing a full-length comedy that managed to keep the viewer
laughing throughout. Sundar.C has tried to prove me
wrong. But unfortunately, while he has gotten the "full-length"
part right, he has failed in the "comedy" part with a
distinctly unfunny movie where the laughs per minute ratio
is way too low for me to recommend even renting the movie.
Sakthivel(Karthik) is a playful young man who, along with his
uncle Kundalakesi(Koundamani), whiles away his time spending his
father's(Vinu Chakravarthy) money. Sakthi falls in love with
Indu(Rambha). Turns out Sakthi's father and Indu's
father(Jaiganesh) are old friends and they
decide to hold the engagement for Sakthi and Indu. But Sakthi,
who doesn't know that the girl fixed for him is Indu, creates
commotion at the engagement and earns the wrath of both Indu and
her father. From then onwards, he tries to clear the air with her
but gets embroiled in one confusion after another.
I am a sucker for comedy. This is the reason for my worth-renting
rating for movies like Poomagal
Oorvalam and Kaadhalaa Kaadhalaa
though they generally require one's brain to be turned off
throughout the viewing. At the same time, an attempted comedy
that does not make you laugh is one of the toughest two and a
half hours to sit through. So, I do have the basic requirement that
the comedy actually make me atleast smile at regular intervals.
This movie does not satisfy that condition. There was exactly
one scene, where Koundamani complains about a stone in his
food, that I found myself laughing. Barring this and a couple of
more funny lines for Koundamani and Vivek, the entire movie
was devoid of laughs.
Sundar continues his trend of copying scenes and situations
whole from other movies as he did in
Unnai Thedi . Here the entire
initial portions of the spendthrift Sakthivel, his doting mother,
his stern father, courting Indu by having someone dress up as a
terrorist and spending the night in her house - all look as
though they were directly lifted from Bagyaraj's Raasukkutti.
There is also a sequence where Koundamani gets into all sorts of
trouble at Rambha's house which has been lifted from Father of
the Bride.
The screenplay itself has been devised rather cleverly with
a string of situations where Karthik ends up being thought of
as the husband of 3 different women Indu, Vinodhini and
Vichitra. With all of them causing problems at the wedding of Karthik
and Rambha, the scene sets one up for a comic riot. But the
payoff is disappointingly mirthless.
Karthik takes a break from playing the good guy with a heart of
gold( Unnidathil Ennai
Koduthen , Nilave Mugam Kaattu ,
Aanandha Poongaatre ) to play
Sakthivel. He impresses during the courting of Rambha. But he
better change his wig. Rambha continues her vow of not wearing
dresses that extend to below her thighs and many of her costumes
threaten the movie's claim to be a family film. Her short
dresses enhance her plumpness and I'm not sure if it was the
director's way of teasing her but many of her initial scenes are
to the accompaniment of the tune for "Baby Elephant Walks" in the
background. Koundamani is his usual loud self while Vivek
has some funny moments as the hen-pecked husband.
The tradition of foreign locales for just a couple of song
sequences continues with Sydney being the spot this time. But
Yuvan Shankar Raja's songs don't match the setting.
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