Charlie Chaplin 2 - A sequel just for the sake of it

Shakti Chidambaram gave the surprise hit 'Charlie Chaplin' in 2002, a light-hearted comedy starring Prabhu, Abhirami and Prabhu Deva which is the second most remade film in Indian cinema.  The director has attempted a sequel sixteen years later which has nothing in common with the original including comedy excepting for the two male leads.

Thiru (Prabhu Deva) and his friends Akash (Arvind Akash), Dubai Raja (Vivek Prasanna) and Chandana (Chandana Raj) are frantically heading towards Tirupathi on a life or death matter.  On the way, they get involved with a forest smuggler gang and lose their car but cross the hurdle and move on.  Then the flashback tells the story of how Thiru fell in love with Saara (Nikki Galrani) the daughter of Dr.Ramakrishnan (Prabhu) and both parents agree to their marriage.  But a big mistake that Thiru and his friends make could break the marriage and that is why they are rushing to save the day.  What is the mistake that Thiru makes and is he finally able to cross the hurdles and get her girl forms the rest of the screenplay.

Prabhu Deva has nothing new to offer as Thiru and needless to add that his dance moves are the selling point in this film.  Prabhu who got a state award for his performance in the original just about passes muster here. Both Nikki Galrani and Adah Sharma's characters are written as imbeciles and is an insult to the modern girl.  Vivek Prasanna shows great promise from the villain roles he has done in the past to providing the few genuinely funny moments in this film.   Ravi Maria as Bullet Pushparaj is the other actor who tickles the funny moments and gives the climax a lift up after its dull hour or so.  The rest of the cast including Lufthfudeen, T. Siva, Arvind Akash, Chandana Raj, Chaams, Sammeer Kochar (an underwhelming debut) and Crane Manohar go through the motions.

What works in the film is that if your expectations are pretty low you could tolerate the pointless screenplay and enjoy the few laughs on offer with the now famous "Chinna Machaan" sung by Senthil and Rajalakshmi to boot. Whatsapp is used as a major plot device and how an impulsive hurting message to someone dear could wreck the relationship is the message the film wants to convey.

Though the plot is old it does have the opportunity to give laugh out loud moments which Shakti Chidambaram has failed to capitalize on.  Everything from the situations, expressions of the actors and staging of scenes look dated.  If the comedy had worked out most of the gaping logical loopholes could have been plugged which sadly is not the case.

Amresh Ganesh's songs especially "Chinna Machan" is received well by the audience and his background score sometimes brings the smiles when the performance lacks.  Soundarajan's cinematography is upto what the script demands.  Shakti Chidambarams's hits 'Maha Nadigan', 'Englishcaaran' and 'Charlie Chaplin' along with comedy had a story to tell that connected to the audience.  In this sequel he has decided to make do with a wafer-thin storyline, uninspired performances, and sparse humor.

Verdict : Go for this one if you are a PD fan and have minimal expectations