Karthi
The most exciting thing about Paruthiveeran (Malligadu in Telugu) was the birth of a star. And being his debut film it held a promise that is hard to live upto. Though Uganiki Okkadu (Aayirathil Oruvan) was a dose of Tamil intensity going wrong (way wrong), Karthi still managed to stand out. Years passed,the promise did prove to be difficult and the man became another example of what happens once branded a star – you do shit films full of second-hand content. What really worries me is not just his choices, but, what seems like a total shortage of originality in writing. Is there really no original material worthy of these guys out there?
Plot
(To retain the masala flavour of the film I choose to use actor names and not character names)
Anushka is running away from goons, she manages to get on a moving train, for some reason climbs to the top, Karthi makes an entrance, another case of an action sequence our cinema clearly cannot afford and hence looks patchy and pathetic, sequence ends with them jumping into the river and making an escape. The villain in the sequence (Milind Soman) had a chopper and a sniper rifle, so unless Anushka and Karthi can swim underwater for great distances, there is no way of getting away. Apparently they can and they did.
Then there is Santhanam, a brother constantly trying to save his three sisters from the men of the world. Karthi shows up at his place pretending to be a relative of the family and the rest of the first half is him flirting with the nympho trio as the film now and then establishes the parts that will let them waste on monotonous car chases, the inevitable fight at binny mills and other big budget garbage (employment avenues for the stuntmen remains the only bright side of these).
The flashback reveals who Anushka and Karthi are and there is this thing about a scandal involving harmful medicines and the health minister. Karthi kidnaps for money and Anushka is the minister’s daughter. What was probably penned as the film’s biggest twist was guessed by the guy sitting in the next seat with experienced flair. So, there is really no point in further telling of the plot.
Verdict
The kind of film that heavily relies on the reaction shots of comedians and all the non-sense grandeur to obscure its masala emptiness.
