FILM - Muthukku Muthaaga
DIRECTOR - Rasu Maduravan
CAST - Vikranth, Harish, Natrajan, Oviya, Monica, Ilavarasu, Saranya
His films have usually centered around the parent-children relationship, set in a rural milieu. Rasu Maduravan returns with yet another similar theme. But this time the director seems to have lost his touch. Unlike his earlier films, the script is very loosely etched, with characters and incidents lacking depth and intensity. And though the family goes though various crises here too, not one touches a chord. This time it’s about a family consisting of doting parents (Ilavarasu, Saranya) and their five sons. The financial status not clearly defined, we do not know how the parents coped with bringing up five children.
Three of the sons marry, but none are happy. Either their wives are nagging, or the in-laws over-bearing. The director rushes through the time–factor, resulting in the narration being jumpy. One of the sons, just married, is suddenly shown with a couple of kids. Or again, the youngest son who was shown singing a dream song with his girl in college, is suddenly an IT employee.
There are a lot of characters in the plot. The script meanders, shuttling from one to the other, trying to give equal space to each but doing justice to none. Singam Puli’s comic antics are plainly irritating too.
Saranya is stereotyped as the distressed mother. A scene in which she is hurt by the insensitivity of her daughters-in-law takes a drastic step, should have touched a chord with the audience. But with the director never really taking us close to any of his characters, it just leaves one feeling cold.
The only actor who manages to come out of it all unscathed is Ilavarasu as the father. With subtle nuances of expression the actor brings alive the character on screen. Of particular mention is his expression in the climax scene where he, catching on to what his distressed wife was up to, gives his silent approval.
Repeating the same theme from film to film, the director seems to have exhausted all his ideas. It’s better that he re-invent himself and shift genres.