'Boss (a) Baskaran' (Tamil, Romantic Comedy, 2010)
Director- Rajesh M
Cast- Arya, Nayantara, Santhanam, Subbu Panchu
After the success of his breezy delightful entertainer 'Siva Manassile Sakthi' (SMS), director Rajesh opts for the same genre for his second film 'Boss (a) Baskaran'.
The story revolves around Baskaran aka Boss, an aimless young man, who tries to bring focus to his life when love enters it. The director’s scripting and narrative style is very similar to that of his earlier film. The situations are laced with humour — slapstick, verbal and at times farcical.
Arya in his first comic outing revels in his role and essays Baskaran with flair. The voice modulation could do with some improvement though. The earlier scenes depict Baskaran and his carefree lifestyle. Baskaran is yet to graduate from college. It has been five years since he has been trying to clear his arrears.
And it’s at one such attempt that he meets Chandrika (Nayanthara), an invigilator, and falls in love with her. The scenes where his family lightheartedly pokes fun at his aimless pursuits, and Baskaran shrugs them off with nonchalance, are all depicted in a light vein.
Baskaran’s naivete is at times stretched a tad too far though, like when he doesn’t catch on even simple English sentences. After elder brother Saravanan gets married to Chandrika’s sister Nandhini (Vijalakshmi), Baskaran comes into closer proximity with Chandrika, and becomes bolder in professing his love. Chandrika thaws towards him. But her father’s taunt of making himself worthy of her hand, makes Saravavan rethink his life.
With the help of friend Nallathambi (Santhanam) who runs a hair salon, he opens a tutorial college. Some of the scenes here generate humour. Bringing in a buxom lecturer (Shakila) to entice students to the tutorial, however is stale comedy.
If Baskaran would achieve his goal, particularly with a more eligible suitor making his appearance, forms the rest of the plot. Nayanthara looks gorgeous, though the chemistry the lead players share is lukewarm.
It’s Santhanam in the latter part who livens up the narration, many a time lifting it from its sluggish pace. Jeeva, the hero of the director’s earlier film, makes a friendly appearance. Boss... may fall short in humour and momentum as compared to SMS, but it’s fairly engaging, and generates enough fun moments to keep a viewer engaged for the most part.