'Vaaliban Suttrum Ulagam' (Tamil)
Director: Lalithasamy
Cast: MGR Siva, Meenakshi, MGR Hari, Vennira Aadai Murthy, Manorama
‘Ulagam Sutrum Vaaliban’, the title of the MGR blockbuster, has been turned around by director Lalithasamy to form ‘Vaaliban Sutrum Ulagam’, the title of his debut film. And this is just the beginning. For, the film shares a couple of other links too with MGR and his flicks. The yesteryear hit ‘Naalai Namadhe’ forms the basis of the plot here, a story of lost and found siblings. Again, the male actors cast in the lead roles of the hero and the villains, are look-alikes of MGR, Ashokan and Nambiar respectively . But the treatment will make the viewer wonder as to why the director would select such a premise for his maiden directorial project.
A scientist (the late VL Narasimhan) invents a formula that would make an expensive vaccine accessible to the common man. Hounded by the criminal duo of father and son (the duo set in the Ashokan-Nambiar mould), the scientist hands over a map hidden in a locket to his colleague Gopalan. The map would lead the latter to the formula. In the ensuing melee, Gopalan, his wife, and their three kids get separated.
Cut to 20 years later, and the reunion takes place, with the three siblings identifying each other. After a free-for-all where the quintessential good-over-evil win is showcased, it’s all well that ends well.
It would have been an engaging spoof like ‘Tamil Padam’, if only the director didn’t take his venture so seriously.
The humour of the film, for most part, is unintentional. MGR Siva, a mimicry artist and an MGR look-alike, replicates the legendary actor to the hilt, costumes, mannerisms, dialogue delivery et all.
The romantic sequences are again unintentionally hilarious. The director (a doctor by profession) appears as Raman, one of the siblings, and a socially-conscious medical practitioner.
At the fag end comes the customary long speech and message on the unholy nexus between the medical fraternity and pharmaceutical companies, which result in life-saving drugs becoming inaccessible to the common man.
The message is highly relevant of course, but it gets totally lost in the chaos created by the confusion of a director who chose a nice moral but couldn’t find an engaging story to go with it.
The Verdict: Predictable, unengaging and ridden with clichés. A much safer option would be to watch the original MGR in any of his old hits.