Film: Sonna Puriyathu
Director: Krishnan Jayaraj
Cast: Shiva, Vasundhara, Blade Shankar, Manobala, Vatsala Paati, Meera Krishnan.
Steadily carving an enviable slot for himself in the comedy film genre, Shiva appears in yet another comic caper Sonna Puriyathu. Directed by debutant Krishnan Jayaraj (a former associate of director Amudhan of Tamil Padam fame), the plot centres on a guy, who is commitment phobic and hates the idea of marriage.
Luxuriating in wine and women, he resists pressure from his mother who is bent upon getting him married.
Shiva is a dubbing artiste, lending voice to foreign language films. His life takes a turn when he succumbs to his mother’s (Meera Krishnan) emotional blackmail and consents to meet Anjali (Vasundhara), the girl she chooses for him. But Shiva has a plan up his sleeve. The narration has a smooth flow and is mildly amusing till here.
The director springs a not-so-surprising twist after that. The attempts by Shiva and Anjali to stall their marriage by showcasing each other in an unfavourable light, is rather juvenile. So is the game show on TV, where the duo competes with another couple for the ‘best couple’ prize money. Shiva’s grandma (Vatsala Paati) adds a refreshing turn to the events as a progressive and gadget-savvy character, talking about ‘Facebook’ ‘Lady Gaga’ and Hollywood films — a grandma who is a far cry from the stereotyped ones!
What happens between Anjali and Shiva is as expected. But the director takes a tad too long to bring about the inevitable, making the latter part a dragged affair. Hilarious are the scenes where he and his friend (RJ Blade Shankar) dub for the films, contributing their own dialogue translation. Bimbo, their fat friend, is the stereotyped eating-all-the-time character, generating stale humour.
The couple of songs forced in seem more like unwanted distractions. The film is satirical at times and funny in parts.
But genuine fun moments, however, are a few and far between. Mildly amusing and a promising work by a debutant, Sonna Puriyathu could have done with more punch in its screenplay.