1.5 / 4 STARS
DIRECTOR: SRIDHAR PRASAD
ACTORS: PRABHU DEVA, MURALI
ACTRESSES: LAILA, NEHA, BABY KALYANI
MUSIC DIRECTOR: VIDYASAAGAR
STORYLINE:
Satyam (Prabhu Deva) is the no-good son of billionaire Mouli. Disappointed Mouli asks Satyam to spend three months alone on the streets of Chennai to learn the value of money. He would have no money, and could not use the information of who he actually was to gain favor with anyone.
So Satyam sets out, and from the very start, meets Laila, who plays an overexuberant youth girl, who cries or laughs like a "loose" constantly. In the next frame, he saves Meenakshi (Neha) in the style of MGR from would-be rapists, and in the third, meets Julie (Baby Kalyani) and gets together with her. Julie has her own sad story which sounds equivalent to the far better film "Kutty." He sees Meenakshi again, and the two of them fall in love.
Julie and Satyam steal a suitcase from Madhavan (Murali) but later that night find out it is full of medicine. Without his medicine, Madhavan falls unconscious. Satyam goes to return the medicine, sees him unconscious, takes him to the hospital, and learns he is going to need five lakhs to save this man he almost inadvertently killed.
So Satyam enters the house of billionaire Rajiv, pretending to be a long-lost son. Of course, Rajiv also happens to be the father of Laila, who instantly falls in love with Satyam.
Of course, there's also the monkey in the wrench -- Prakash Raj as a villain who is after Mouli's money and Prabhu Deva's life.
COMMENTS:
In classic Prabhu Deva movie style, you have a convolunted plot-line that meanders from comedy to romance to fight to sentiment, and from song to song to song. It's not a horrible movie, it's just don't expect too much when you watch it (I certainly didn't).
Some of the comedy is actually stupidly funny (I am reminded of the incredibly stupid but somehow wickedly funny scene where Laila electric shocks Prabhu Deva while shouting, "I love you!" each time he convulses). Most of the comedy, however, doesn't work. The romance doesn't make much of a mark, with neither heroine really having anything to do with the plot. The fight scenes? The usual. The sentiment? Overladen near the end as usual, but otherwise, not too bad.
It's just a meandering pointless Prabhu Deva movie with a few highlights along the way.
Vivek appears in an unrelated comedy track that has to do with how Tamil is being squelched by English. While initially funny, it gets old real fast, despite Vivek making fun of everything from newscasters to "Sethu."
NOTE ON THE MUSIC:
Some good songs. But I thought the best songs of the album disappointed because of bad picturisation. I loved listening to "Kaasu Kaasu" (and even to "Chikku Chikku Joy"), but both songs are badly done. The usual suspects in love songs are also here with, "Vaadi Vaadi Naattu Katta," "Kannaalae Miya Miya," and "Thome Thome Thithithome." Vidyasaagar has done an average job--not nearly as good as some of the other tunes he has scored this year.
RECOMMENDATION:
If you have a taste for Prabhu Deva, watch it on video. Missing out won't make you feel too bad, though.
VIJAY VANNIARAJAN