Sivakasi Review

Vijay films are in many ways like what they offer in Saravana Bhavan Hotels. You know the fare; you know what to expect; you are also never disappointed as you go there for that precisely.

Sivakasi is one among the long line of formulaic masala mass entertainers that Vijay is now known to dish out. In Perarusu, Vijay has got a director who understands the hero as well as his fans.

Vijay does all that is expected of him ---fight with gusto, dance with flair, mouth the dialogues with verve, throw home-grown homilies, break into sentiments, throw a few jokes around ,play around with Chennai slang it is a non-stop raucous show of pre-conceived fun.

Vijay's logic is simple: If something is good enough to work in his previous film, then it has to be good enough for his next. To all our surprise, it is.

So Vijay and Perarusu painstakingly rekindle what they put out on the plate in Tirupachi. The only change here being the hero goes from the city to a village to help his mother and sister from his brother.

The story is simple. The eponymous hero (Vijay) has to take on his greedy, slimy brother (Prakash Raj). The brother is so sinister that he doesn't even baulk at using his mother (Geetha) as a pawn. The hero, who lives in the Renganathan Street in Chennai ( GK's art really brings this street alive), comes to Sivakasi and mauls his brother and his political acolytes. In between, he also has time to lark around with a rich girl (Asin), who naturally falls for him despite his rough-hewn exterior.

The story is just an excuse in such films. It all boils down to the hero's drawing power. And Vijay reigns supreme in that territory. He has natural presence on screen and has an infectious sense of fun. Of course, his robustness and a natural ability to dance are extra attractions. He just romps through the role that has been chiseled for him. He does everything asked of him with poise and panache. Asin gives him good company. She is lively and her exchanges with Vijay does make you laugh.

Prakash Raj does his typical stuff. The role has shades of the one he played in Gili. Geetha is the lachrymose mother. She is dignified.

Comedy is in the hands of M S Baskar, Chitti Babu, and they are passable.

There is an item song with Nayantra, and it also passes muster.

Sunny V Jospeh's camera work is easy and pleasing. Srikanth Deva's music comes with the territory. The `kuthu' songs bring the house down.

Perarusu, who has also penned the dialogues, has delivered what he has been asked to. His job has been to cook something with the ingredients that are already ready. Can hardly complain on that score.