Midway through Unnai Kann Theduthey, I forgot that it was a Sundar.C movie. Until then,
the movie, set in a marriage hall, had all the hallmarks of his movie - lots of characters,
confusion and comedy. But at the midpoint, a murder is introduced into the proceedings and for
a while thereafter, the movie shows signs of developing into an intriguing whodunnit. But the
movie flatters to deceive. The murder mystery is resolved in the least interesting way
possible with the no twists regarding the identity of the murderer and the motive turning out
to be completely ordinary. After all the attempts at building up tension, the climax too is a
cop-out that leaves several questions unanswered.
The police find a dead body, clutching a thaali and with a wedding invitation stuffed in the
pocket, in the Coovum river. The setting then moves to a marriage hall where preparations are on
for the wedding of Vaidehi, the sister of Prabhu(Livingston). His wife Charulatha(Kushboo)
is the one running the show as the relatives show up one by one. Vichu(Satyaraj) joins the fun
as the cook's(Manivannan) assistant and is the target of Gayatri's(Ravali) affections. Things
heat up when the dead body in the river is found to have links to the wedding.
Almost the entire movie, barring the flashbacks and song sequences, takes place inside the
marriage hall over a span of two days. Sundar has captured the festive atmosphere of a wedding
well and given each of the characters a small story of their own. This keeps things moving
initially. The huge gallery of supporting actors no doubt helps here. There are some laughs
from Manivannan, Vivek and 'Kovai' Sarala with 'Delhi' Ganesh providing minor support. Vivek's
first plan to put Satyaraj out of the picture is stolen(afterall, this is a Sundar. C movie!)
but the scenes where he goes after the old lady for the chloroform and where 'Delhi' Ganesh
catches him spying on his daughter, offer the best laughs.
The thaali found with the dead man is used to reveal the suspect but the revelation is the
result of one simple question that could've been asked right at the beginning. The entire
first half becomes irrelevant at this point, except as a long way of introducing the
characters. If this is how the police go about investigating murders, its no wonder cases
in TamilNadu take so long to be solved! But the the identity of
the suspect and the twist before this scene all make us sit up and renew our interest in the
movie which seemed to be meandering aimlessly. For awhile, the interest is maintained with
signs of a cat-and-mouse game between Satyaraj and the suspect.
But hopes of a thriller are quickly dashed. In the hands of a better director, the marriage
setting, with its multitude of characters, might have provided the perfect foil for a
whodunnit. But not here. The flashback provides a routine reason for the murder and drains
all suspense from the movie. The only question left is the identity of the dead man and
that is fairly obvious. The identity of the suspect also makes the climax a foregone
conclusion and the director's numerous, contrived attempts to introduce tension never
really work. Mansur Ali Khan's sequence, which has no connection to the main story, seems
to have been introduced solely to give Satyaraj a chance to fight.
Satyaraj is energetic but his exaggerated Brahmin accent feels overdone at times. Kushboo
looks sweet and completely at home in the 'madisaar'. Small expressions like smiling an
invitation a new relation and swerving aside to let them pass are done so naturally. Her face
also expresses the sorrow well in the heavier scenes. Ravali has nothing to do other than
chasing after Satyaraj, rather audaciously sometimes. Deva brazenly copies Michael
Jackson for the title song and another hindi tune. But the other songs are quite pleasant.
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