Is director Vikraman still living in Jurassic age of filmmaking? Such doubts will be created in the viewers mind after seeing Mariyadhai. It is no different from the 60’s and 70’s family tear jerker’s, the omnibus masala concoctions serving all nine rasas.
For Vikraman time has frozen. The feel good joint family that tries to activate the lachrymal glands still works for him? The screenplay is a mess, caring a whit for sense, logic and even continuity. Moreover we are showered under by clichés like the ‘Mr Clean’ family head, a son who obeys him, a total stranger trying to rectify the mistakes committed by her friend, etc.
Annamalai (Vijaykanth) is a do-gooder rich farmer with a loving family of wife Alamelu (Ambika), son Raja (Vijaykanth) and daughter Sumathi (Ammu). They are the ‘role model’ family for the villagers as Annamalai is a loving father who listens and allows his children to have the final say in whatever they do.
Soon Raja gets into trouble when he is conned by Radha (Meena) of 150 acres of prime land as she is hand in glove with the bad guys local MLA and his son (Sampath). Enter Chandra (Meera Jasmine), who sets things right after a few dream songs, in Thailand and they lived happily ever after!
The Rip Van Winkle of Kollywood, Vikraman is in his own dream world and just refuses to accept the fact that the audiences have changed. It was embarrassing to watch the film at a Chennai screen, where people were hooting and laughing at the so called “dramatic moments” in the film.
Vikraman has also asked his new age music director Vijay Antony to help himself to S.A Rajkumar tunes from his earlier films. The much hyped MGR song from Idhyakani falls flat – all the songs, locations, dance movement and even costumes looked the same.
Vijaykanth sleep walks in a tailor made role, Meera Jasmine looks bloated and is irritating, Meena is adequate and Sampath is wasted. The comedy of Ramesh Kanna is stale and fails to evoke laughter. He has water, hot Sambar, soap water, spit, coconut and cow dung thrown at his face at regular intervals!
The best line in the film – one of the characters pointing out to Vijaykanth says- “One day in every house in Tamilnadu, his photo will be there”. An indication that Captain, will soon become the Chief Minister of the state. We dare not say anything more about this film!
Banner: Amma Creations
Cast: Vijayakanth, Ambika, Meena, Meera Jasmine, Ramesh Kanna
Direction: Vikraman
Production: T Siva
Music: Vijay Antony