'Chandramukhi 2' - Pays tribute to the original frame by frame

'Chandramukhi' released in 2005 at that time turned out to be Superstar Rajinikanth's career best grosser in spite of him playing second fiddle to Jyothika and to a certain extent Vadivelu.  Rajini himself had joked about it after the unprecedented success.  Now after 18 years the sequel has arrived with Raghava Lawerence and Kangana Ranaut in the lead roles.  Whether the film will taste the same success amongst the current generation of viewers remains to be seen.

A rich family head Ranganayaki (Radhika Sarathkumar), decided to visit her ancestral deity temple in Vetaiyapuram after accidents occur in her mill and her youngest daughter (Lakshmi Menon) becomes crippled.  She along with her three daughters and her brothers and their families rent the famous palace from the first part to stay as it is near their temple.  Pandyan (Raghava Lawrence) arrives is the guardian of  two orphaned children whose mother was disowned by Ranganayaki.   They also visit the palace and the family still does not accept the children.  As expected supernatural occurrences begin to terrorize the family and the family guru reveals that the original Chandramukhi (Kangana Ranaut) is has possessed one of the daughters of the house to prevent the family from lighting the lamp in their deity temple.  The reason is that Chandarmukhi's enemy Vettaiyan aka Sengottaiyan (Also played by Raghava Lawrence) will come back to life with full power.  Which daughter is possessed by Chandramukhi? Can Pandiyan save the two children and the family from Chandramukhi and Segottaiyan is what the rest of the screenplay is all about. 

Raghava Lawrence a hardcore Rajini fan has imitated his guru in almost all the scenes where he appears as the jolly good Pandian as well as the evil Sengottaiyan.  Apart from that as usual he plays to the gallery with his dance moves and sentiments especially the ones involving the children.  Kangana Ranaut appears only after interval and is very convincing as Chandramukhi with her impeccable dance moves and body language.  Lakshmi Menon scores as the crippled girl turned deadly force while Mahima Nambiar as the love interest of the hero also makes her presence felt.  Vadivelu tries his best to tickle the funny bones but only succeeds when the late R.S. Sivaji appears as the painter Gopal who was never seen in the original film.  The rest of the cast are all pretty functional to the mediocre screenplay. 

What works in 'Chandramukhi 2' is the familiar ground that the audience is placed in and P. Vasu delivering every element that fans will expect.  There is a smooth flow to the film from start to finish.

On the downside no real effort has been taken to give the audience anything new.  The lack of comedy and also thrill factor missing due to the familiar screenplay are dampeners.

The film moves along without any distraction due to the screenplay without any distractions. Hero Lawrence corrects Radhika's family, which hates and shuns the two children in the beginning, just by speaking a dialogue in one scene. The film is full of such 'outdated' and pathetic scenes. At least the character designs are a bit manic, if not that. As soon as Lakshmi Menon sits in the wheel chair, one knows what is going to happen to the character. The screen is littered with characters, but none of them are clearly written.

Music director M.M. Keeravani who has replaced Vidyasagar from the original has also made sure that all the songs resembled the original.  R.D. Rajasekhar's cinematography and the rest of the technical aspects are on par considering that Lyca Productions has bankrolled the project with a lavish budget.  P. Vasu known for his commercial entertainers has restricted himself to simply rehash his own 'Chandramukhi' and has succeeded in satisfying his and Raghava's hardcore fans.

Verdict : A commercial treat for Raghava Lawrence and P. Vasu fans