Vadakkupatti Ramasamy Review - Watchable Entertainer!

Ashwin Ram

Premise: Santhanam doesn’t believe in God, he runs a temple as business. The people in the village are very devoted but there occurs an issue in which the Government orders to temporarily close it. Santhanam is desperate to reopen the temple, did he succeed and what did he discover in the process forms the remaining story.

Writing/ Direction:

It’s very hard these days to find mindless comedy flicks with a good plot, in that case, Vadakkupatti Ramasamy takes the rare route. On the script front, it offers a variety of promising goodies, an interesting storyline with a relevant backdrop, Madras-Eye concept that keeps the flow fresh, multiple situations and characters are tied together in a believable way. There is a constant try to deliver something exciting in the writing, which is very much evident with the storytelling pattern, but it could have been so much better. The jokes are a mixed bag, there are plenty of laugh out loud moments but at the same time a truckload of comedies land flat as well. The primary source of humour in this film is what a character utters at peculiar situations, the issue is that every dialogue is intended to be rhyming just for the punch, so the artists speak random rubbish at many instances which becomes very repetitive and silly. Nevertheless, certain stretches packed with hilarious ideas were enjoyable. The lengthy setups for the riot climax worked, but the ending was disappointing with many loose ends for the subplots and the character arcs lacked proper closures.

Performances:

Santhanam’s makeover, attire and dialogue delivery suited the rural backdrop neatly. Unlike the usual commercial flicks, Megha Akash actually had a proper role to play that moved the story forward. Many comedy artists supported the humour quotient, especially 'Motta' Rajendran, Cool Suresh, Lollu Sabha Manohar and Seshu. The other prominent artists like Ravi Maria, John Vijay, It Is Prashanth, etc contributed just in bits and pieces. Nizhalgal Ravi gets so much screen time, some of his mannerisms were really funny but mostly boring with a lot of importance wasted on him. An interesting villain role for Jai Bhim actor Tamizh, had some scope.

Technicalities:

Sean Roldan is a big advantage here, he sets the mood right with the score and the songs are in the harmless range. Quality camera work with nothing much to complain about. Appreciable edit pattern, despite a huge star-cast and various situations, the platter was served well but with hiccups as the lags were visible.

Bottomline

A rural flick that carries a sincerely written storyline with humour working out to an extent. Certain comedy stretches click and some don’t, thankfully the situations are coherently linked.

Rating - 2.75/ 5