Director: Atlee
Formulaic films have always been the
safe-bet for our filmmakers ensuring a breather for struggling stars and gateway
for new entrants. Is it mainly because of the abundance of successful reference
material to source from for formulaic masala film, or because of the difficulty
to create formulaic structures in other genres, anything done besides action or
comedy in films have always been termed novel attempt. While many feel-good
films have attempted to serve a commercial potboiler, only few were able to
please the audience, of which Cinematographer turned Director Jeeva’s films
contributed a lot. After a long lull created by his demise, debutante Atlee,
with his rom-com Raja Rani, has successfully filled the gap.
Adding himself to the list of new age
filmmakers with great taste for visuals, Atlee creates pitch perfect backdrop
for the film’s riches and lower-middle class portions. Moving further in, besides
fleetingly touching the sensibilities of the well-off audience through the
leads’ sophisticated lifestyle, he also plays to the gallery through the usual
charades of Santhanam and Sathyan and through a surprisingly urbane version of
Nan Kadavul-Rajendran. And yet, for someone who shows great command over every
part of filmmaking, Atlee fails to understand the requirements of the content
he has chosen. Instead of plotting the film around the romance in the three
love stories and flavoring them with other crowd-pulling factors, the love
stories seem to be excuses for the irreverence of the key artists in each
segment to take the center stage. While I don’t have any issue over irreverent
comedy, this movie diligently asks us to take the love stories to be heart
wrenching while not giving anything substantial to make us invest in these
characters. While Jai/Nayanthara and Arya/Nazariya pairs fall in love because
they have to, Arya and Nayanthara have only sympathy for each other. If they
are that weak at heart, I wonder why they treat their spouses inhumanly when we
don’t even dare to do such things to strangers in real life. Clearly Atlee’s
only intention is to entertain us in each frame by any means available. Sundar
C and Rajesh who are pioneers in this kind of nonsense comedy never ask us to
take the subject seriously and only ask us to enjoy the comedy. To top it, the
funny lines aren't extraordinary to forget this serious flaw. Till Anniyan,
even Shankar, who fills his screenplay with impractical comic reliefs to
balance his serious subject, doesn't compromise the emotional undercurrent of
the film for the sake of having popular entertaining elements.
Sometimes a lack of strong love can
be overcome by stellar captivating performances. While it’s overwhelming to see
the actors completely surrendering to the director’s vision, except for
Sathyaraj and Nayanthara’s roles, Atlee has only been able to give to most of
his artists roles that they have become famous for. While Arya carry forwards
his happy-go-lucky guy role, Sathyan reprises his overconfident-frail guy role,
Santhanam his guide/philosopher/best friend role, Jai though continues where he
left-off in Engeyum Epodhum, effectively captures the attention of the audience
with an innocent portrayal of Surya. Meanwhile, Nayanthara though fails
miserably in her college girl portrayal, becomes the main asset of the film in
her matured girl segments. It is also a pleasant surprise to see Sathyaraj look
and perform well especially after abysmal back to back performances in Chennai
Express and Thalaivaa (I haven’t seen Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam).
While these were my reservations,
like for any well marketed masala film, the audience with whom I saw the film
seem to believe they have witnessed a masterpiece in terms of entertainment, completely
moved by the ‘heart wrenching love story’. Maybe they are the people who were
moved to tears on seeing the epilogue of Thuppakki. As far as my allegiance is
concerned I will go back to re-watch Mouna Ragam and Rhythm, films that largely
stayed true to its theme.
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