Ever since the unexpected success of Ennammaa Kannu ,
Satyaraj has been attempting to duplicate the same kind of anti-hero character he
played in that movie.
But what he has failed to realise is that what contributed to the success
of that movie was not just the portrayal of his character but the story, script, etc.
that went along with it. Thinking that a semi-villainous character alone can salvage
a bad movie leads to movies like Vivaramaana Aalu which has precious little
to offer apart from a few topical jokes.
Mayilsamy(Satyaraj) is a pickpocket whose only aim in life is to make money - by
hook or crook. He even marries Paappu(Devayani) at a group wedding since it would
get them Rs 5000. But he runs away the same night, escaping to the city to look
for other means of earning money. There he turns into a fake psychiatrist with
another thief 'Suitcase' Subbu(Vivek) as his compounder. He runs into Puppy(Mumtaj)
who is faking madness in order to unite her sparring parents and is hired by
them to cure her. His aim is to wed Puppy and inherit all her riches and Puppy
falls for him too. Meanwhile Paappu arrives in the city looking for him and
Subbu attempts to reveal Mayilsamy's true colors to everyone.
I do not mind comedies that throw logic to the winds as they throw jokes at us
but for the jokes to work, they should be built upon funny situations. Rarely
do jokes stand on their own, especially in movies. But here, the story is just
a weak excuse to string together jokes on a variety of issues. The sequences
are themselves almost never funny(in fact, they are mostly mean and ill-spirited)
and the director simply thrusts in situations that allow jokes to be made about
topics that are currently hot in Tamil Nadu(the 'Annachi joke' is a prime example
of this). So while we chuckle at some of the jokes, the movie contains no real
laughs and this make the lack of logic stand out.
Some hopes are raised with the arrival of Devayani in the city and Vivek's
attempts to convince her about Satyaraj's duplicity. But the anticipation raised
by each of his ploys almost always ends in disappointment. Satyaraj's means
of turning the tables on him is not clever and instead, is based on coincidences.
Ponnanbalam's affliction(he loses eyesight after 6pm) is another opportunity that
is wasted. Lots of laughs can be mined from this situation, as Koundamani proved
in Chinna Thambi but that is not the case
here.
The director is not willing to go the whole way as far as Satyaraj's villainy
is concerned. The usual character traits that differentiate an anti-hero from
a villain are present here too. Satyaraj abandons the woman who he married
purely for money but gives her half the money before running away! And whatever
his bad qualities, he remains a gentleman as far as women are concerned, not
sleeping with Devayani though the opportunity was present. The less said about
the others the better. It is never clear how Mumtaj feigning madness will serve
to unite her parents and the biggest laugh in the movie comes at the end when
she turns up in a saree to bid Satyaraj goodbye!
Satyaraj looks too old and though he attempts to infuse some life into the
dialogs with his usual style, he comes off as overacting most of the time.
Devayani is fine as the village girl who thinks the world of her husband
and never dreams of suspecting him. Mumtaj gets to do a little more than her
usual one-song-and-disappear routine but does nothing to suggest that she's
been working on her acting skills. Vivek is a big disappointment and this is
just another movie to prove that he needs the right script to make his mark.
Deva does nothing special for the movie, coming up with his usual medley of
not-so-bad and bad songs.
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