Kodambakkam Review

Kodambakkam always holds special allure in the minds of Tamilians. After all, it is from where thousand dreams are launched daily. The success and failure stories in Kodambakkam, the headquarters of Tamil film industry, are in itself pure theater. The story of the small cogs (like assistant directors, music helpers, small time artistes, unit hands) that help move the industry is, in a sense, the real story. And director Jaganji, an associate to director Cheran, has chosen to highlight the unsung heroes of the industry in his eponymous movie.

He has come out with a movie which narrates the travails thousands of assistant directors who give the industry a tragic allure. All credit to Jaganji for having the guts to choose a different theme. Supported by a cast and crew that has no big names, Jaganji has managed to keep things interesting.

Sugavannan (Nanda), a village youth, settles down in Chennai with hopes of becoming a director one-day. In his native, he falls in love with Dhanam (Dhiya), who motivates him to achieve his dreams.

With the help of a production manager Puli Kumar (Ramesh Khanna), Sugavanann meets producers and narrates scripts. However, no producer wants to risk his money by churning out  an off-beat film (which is Sugavanan's dream project).

One day, with the help of Puli Kumar, he meets a rich landlord Rasappa Goundar (Manivannan), who knows nothing about cinema. Sugavannan and Puli Kumar convince him to venture to film production and finally his dream venture hits the floors. They cast a popular heroine from Bollywood - Preethi (Thejashri) to play the heroine.

But things don't go as planned by Sugavannan. After several highs and low, he finally completes the film. But to his shock, he finds no takers for it and again Puli Kumar steps to his rescue and decides to do an own-release. Does the movie click and does Sugavannan realize his dream forms the rest.

Hats off to Nanda for a mature performance. He looks comfortable and seems to have got under the skin of the character. His dialogue delivery has improved leaps and bounds compared to his earlier films. Dhiya, for a change, plays a de-glamorized role, while Thejashri playing a Bollywood heroine, seems to have mimed several Hindi actresses well. It is however, Manivannan and Ramesh Khanna, who are impressive. They give right emotions and succeed in not just evoking humor but also emotions at many places.

Sirpy too has contributed his best for the movie, giving some hummable tunes and U K Senthil Kumar's visuals add strength to the film.

Jaganji, who has pictured the struggle of thousands of aspiring directors, has done good job.