Actor Jayam previous film ‘Romeo Juliet’ that released a couple of months ago has been a super hit . While that was an urban romantic comedy his next film ‘Sakalakalavallavan seemed like a rural entertainer and with a director like Suraaj handling the mantle we could expect a complete entertainer with all requisites of a commercial film. The trailer proved that it will be one such movie from Suraaj who with his earlier films has proved his skills in handling action, comedy, sentiment and glamour. Does the film of this first time duo give what was expected?
Sakthi (Jayam Ravi) and ‘Chinnabuththi’ Chinnasamy (Soori) are relatives cum foes who come around as Tom & Jerry in a village in Thenkasi district. Sakthi falls for Chinnasamy’s ‘mora ponnu’ Selvi (Anjali) and the love becomes mutual. Chinnasamy in turn falls for Sakthi’s ‘mora ponnu’ Divya (Trisha) who is going to get married to someoneelse in a week.
Divya’s marriage gets called off at the last moment and Sakthi who would never cross his father’s (Prabhu) line ties the nuptial know around Divya. They start their life in Chennai and things do not work out. Divya seeks divorce from Sakthi within a month after their marriage, who in turn promises to give his consent for divorce if the former lives with his family in their village for one month. Divya accepts the deal and the rest tells whether the wedding is saved or not.
The first half is filled with Soori’s brand of comedy which evokes laughter here and there and Anjali’s glamour which thankfully does not touch the line of crass. In the second half, glamour is replaced by a bit of sentiment which does not go overboard, clichés avoided, the comedy quotient gets multiplied and you can laugh out loud at many instances.
This way the film heavily banks on comedy and this department’s success has to be credited with retaining the entertainment factor which is like the lifeblood for the film.
There is a fight scene in a film which starts with a bus getting flamed and the lead couple taken to someone’s house at knife point. The way the scene ends is what the movie is all about and if you are the one who would raise logic related question this film is not for you. ‘Sakalakalavallavan’ is a ‘no logic entertainer’. Yes it is an entertainer that really entertains to a large extent.
On the downside, no efforts seems to have gone into presenting the film’s important characters, the decisions they take, the changes that happen in them etc in a convincing manner. The name of the hero of the film comes in hardly three instances throughout the film and not even his background his properly given. The lead female characters are also weekly etched out.
The film goes on expected lines throughout and there is nothing new scriptwise.
However the director deserves appreciation for not indulging in educated working women bashing and preaching family values to them though the story as such looks like having scope for that. The weaknesses of Divya is limited to that character and is not generalized with all urban women except in one particular dialogue that says “city ponnungalukku divorce apply panradhu driving license, apply panra madhiri easy ah pochu” (For city based girls, applying for divorce has become as easy as applying for a driving license).
The role is not a challenging one for Jayam Ravi but he really excels in romance, fight, comedy and sentiment, with the scope offered by the role. Anjali and Trisha have equal scope and they have given their best, for they cannot be blamed for their characters being weak. Soori steals the show and it is really nice and satisfying to see him leading the comic bandwagon with sheer aplomb. ‘Thalapathy’ Dinesh who comes as Soori's accomplice plays a role akin to the one played in ‘Kalakalappu’ with Santhanam' and his combination with Soori has worked out equally well. Vivekh appears in a comic cameo and with the hardly 20 minutes screen time given to him, he lights up the screen with his own brand of comedy. There is also a surprise element with Vivekh in this film and we don’t want to spoil the that by writing about it. ‘Motta’ Rajendran comes as a police officer who gets transferred often due to his hypertension. He does not fail in giving what is expected of him and the end given to his character and the last few moments preceding that are nothing short of hilarious.
Songs in the film follow the template- an intro song for the hero with Poorna’s cameo, a glamorous duet song with each of the heroines in the film and a bar song. The songs by Thaman are okay to the ears, but most of them are forced in the film. Re-recording Is apt. Cinematography by U.K.Senthilkumar and Editing by R.K.Selva give what is required for the film. Art direction could have been better, especially in songs. The bar song exactly looks like the one shot in a set.
Verdict- A neat entertainer.
Comments