1.5 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: K.B. JAYAA
ACTORS: SURYA, RAGUVARAN
ACTRESS: JOTHIKA
MUSIC DIRECTOR: DEVA
STORYLINE:
Raguram (Raguvaran) and Surya (guess who?) are the sons of police officer Sivakumar and Radhika. Ever since Ragu was little, he has been jealous of his parents' affection for younger Surya. He has felt like the "nonexistent child" his entire life. He takes pleasure in hiring rowdies to beat up Surya, and then watching this on video. Surya, meanwhile, falls in love with Jothika. Because of Ragu's efforts, he becomes engaged to her.
When Ragu gets his chance at the top of a Kodaikanal mountain, he pushes Surya down the mountain and kills him.
The rest of the story hinges on whether Ragu gets his comeuppance.
COMMENTS:
I always feel like a grinch when writing my reviews because other reviewers rate movies much higher than I do. But I feel, since movies like "Roja," "Naayagan," "Gentleman," have been made, it IS possible to make an excellent Tamil film, and I cannot honestly give the likes of "Uyirilae Kalanthathu" a passable review.
The entire movie is based on Western child psychology of how the elder child will feel neglect. This kind of psychology seems out-of-place in a Tamil film, and what's worse, far too extreme. We never feel for Ragu's character (no fault of Raguvaran's) merely because we don't believe that he can hate Surya's character as much as he does.
As for the romance between Surya and Jothika (who seems to be in EVERY Tamil movie recently), we've seen it all before.
This movie falls in the cracks between "could have been good" and "nice try." But the end result is drawn out, unconvincing, and implausible. Plus the surprise twist at the end with -- spoiler! -- Surya still very much alive is about as predictable as Tamil cinema gets.
You can always tell movies that were put together in a short time when the character's names and the actor's names, are one and the same, as they are here. The actors all try hard, but this movie was ill-fated from the very beginning.
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
The best song is the mediocre "Deva Deva Devadaiyae." The other songs are all pretty horrible. The worst is "Hussein Hussein" (with a Vindya cameo). Who wrote the lyrics to that?
RECOMMENDATION:
Skip it.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN