The thing about Village centric movies is the penchant for retaining the original flavor; folk, culture, agriculture and then there is Kollywood’ s stereotyping of a Village head, his adorable Kin and a distant village which is divided by either caste or some decade long fight, the list could go on. As in any other Village movie, Muthuramalingam ticks most of the boxes, has one of Kollywood’s best action hero spearheading a script that majorly revolves around Silambattam. Gautam Karthik and Priya Anand are fresh, yet look like a pair runaway from a song shot in foreign location, coerced into acting in this flick.
Just as any other Village, here is Napoleon a good willed man with his family nearby Tirunelveli. His passion towards the Silambattam sport made him a Guru of all sorts to his village and his two sons, with Gautam Karthik being the youngest. As usual the run up of first half is bundled with hurried comedy from Singam Puli & co, then from nowhere the Hero and heroine fall in love, quickly enjoy their time before getting in touch with parents and surprisingly it becomes an all family affair with both sides agreeing to the marriage. Now with all this, Gautam Karthik’s characterization requires to be rugged, a solid masala guy with a heavy shoulder. The actor has put in heart and soul into the act, there are no doubts there and it’s evident in most of the stunt sequences, especially during Silambattam, but somehow it’s either his appearance or body language that gives it away bluntly. While we wait for the twist in the tale there is a Silambattam competition in the neighboring villages and for some reason Napoleon does not want his folks to participate in the competition, but being the daredevil that he is our hero sets foot to the village and all hell breaks loose. Does he comes out all clean? Well watch and find out, there is also an interesting twist toward the climax.
In what could have been an interesting plot, the director puts poor editing and screenplay at exposure and spoils the rundown of events. After poising a fitting interval block, the second half which could have been more interesting sadly has limited scope for improvisation. With talented actors like Fefsi Vijayan, Vamsi Krishna, Rekha,Vivek the scripting and dialogues do not do much good. Vivek tries to evoke one liners and whatever he is at best, but sadly that goes down without much humor glued. The Police chase up in the second half with an absconding Gautam Karthik creates a sensational build up, but with improper editing and screen presence it kills the excitement. Ilayaraja has always been at his best in Village centric flicks, but neither the BGM nor the songs (apart from the first vocals of Kamal ), there is very limited technicality when it comes to music too.
The biggest strength of the movie is easily Napoleon, he carries the weight of needing a massive screen presence of a head with immense responsibility with ease. Years of buildup as an action hero is clear, for the actor is at his best in this role. While Gautam Karthik’s effort will be lauded, he seems misfit for this role, his chubby attitude and body language lacks the mass kick the character needs. The stunt sequences for the Silambattam are choreographed amazingly well and Gautam Karthik seems to have done the homework required for this physical challenge and is very much evident on the screen. Priya Anand, quite the pretty lady and a talented actress has her show to a good extent in the first half. Even though oozes a pinch of unwanted glamour shows she can pull of any role with care.
Rajadurai’s direction is probably the biggest letdown with nothing gripping or solid enough to get the screenplay going. The movie maybe could have done well if it was released in the 80’s, for it had the usual village essence with an ensemble cast too.
Verdict : Muthuramalingam fails to captivate your imagination with its average direction, Napoleon alone stands out in this Village centric action drama.
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