MUNDASUPATTI - gAGS for Laughs stretched into a 148 minTamil feature film!
Cast:- Vishnu Vishal, Nandita, Kaali, Venkat, Anand Raj & the residents of Mundasupatti
& Crew:- S/S/D - Ram Kumar, D.O.P. - PV Shankar, Music - Leo John Paul, Art- Gopi Anand
Track list:- You will be well served by listening to the tracks on a CD player or car stereo.
Direction, story & Screenplay: - This film is another classic case of producers Thirukumaran Entertainment (C.V.Kumar) & Fox Star Studios who seem to think a reasonably good subject used in making a short film has enough content for a 2hr 28 min feature film. The result 1) a boring feature film and 2) a talented young film maker wasted for want of proper guidance. This film is based on one single thread that in the village of Mundasupatti people are bound by a superstition that if any resident of the village is photographed he or she will die! Based on this one notion the director decides to take the viewer most of the time on a slow, boring and dreary 2.1/2 hr drudgery except for a few moments of laughter which would have probably brought only a smile if this film had been a rip roaring comedy. The film starts in the year 1947 and moves on to the 80's. Honestly I really did not understand the significance of the stipulated periods or dates and its connection or relevance to this film. Wearing bell bottoms, having long Beatles like haircut with sideburns and wearing batik/bleeding Madras shirts has nothing to do with the premise of this film. This premise would have worked even if it had been played out now. Vishnu Vishal and his assistant Kaali run a photo studio and the first half is totally devoted in establishing these two characters. The names Mundasupatti and Komanapatti etc is supposed to add to the humor but sadly it doesn't. The trend these days is to focus on village based comedies with out of the box thinking like Pannayarum Padminiyum, Vayai Moodi Pesavum, Varuthapadatha Valibhar Sangam, Sutta Kadai etc while some succeed at the B.O most others fail. Once again its love at first sight as the hero falls for the coy village girl Nandita for the millionth time in Tamil cinema. I have now come to the logical conclusion that the portrayal of this so called love at first sight is more physical rather than emotional as most of the female leads or pretty and/or well endowed! Our heroes never seem to fall in love with ordinary or bad looking girls! In this film too Nandita is a school kid and the hero "picks" (present day slang) her up! Of course she has a "Mora Paiyan" (suitor) and a strict father and grating nose crying screeching submissive mother and the director also throws in a freebie a "catapult" wielding little brother! All in all a pot boiler village masala film sugar coated with the genre comedy which somehow fails to sweeten even an iota of the viewers sensibilities. Vishnu has a fixed grin or a so called smile which appears more "lech" than anything else! I am sorry but his acting talent remains dormant almost through out. There is this friend and assistant Kaali who tries to pep up proceedings with some serious comedy and barely succeeds in his efforts. The actor who plays 'Muneeshkanth" is the biggest surprise factor in the film. He has fully understood his role and pot rayed it to his fullest abilities. In fact without this humor quotient the movie would have fallen completely flat. The actor who plays the village priest is acceptable. The rest also ran i mean literally!
& the Climax, The director uses the "object" of the premise as a sort of a "freeze" climax which turns out to be so predictable and archaic!
Acting: Vishnu Vishal with his funny hair do and fixed "lech" kind of smile is either riding an old vintage motor bike or digging a well! All in all his acting fails to impress. He looks more like a aimless moron on screen.
Kaali as Vishals assistant is a talented actor. Tries his best to pep up proceedings but the script betrays him.
Nandita has very little to do except use her coy smile get angry a couple of times and as usual with all village based subjects gets slapped by the father for insolence.
MuneeshKanth is really the surprise packet who single handedly tries to keep the film from becoming a total disaster but not everyone can be a marvel comic super hero when disaster strikes!
The village priest is worth a mention!
Anandaraj as the comic villain essays his role quite well!
The rest keep running aimlessly all over the screen!
Camera:- Pretty decent camera work. The lighting suits the period of the premise. The slow panning and up and down tilt shots adds to the slowness of the premise thereby the pace of the film lags at quite a few places.
The rest keep running aimlessly all over the screen!
Camera:- Pretty decent camera work. The lighting suits the period of the premise. The slow panning and up and down tilt shots adds to the slowness of the premise thereby the pace of the film lags at quite a few places.
Music: - Decent but once again the B.G score used more than necessary. I wish our music directors start using the sounds of silence more.
Art : - Acceptable though the area of coverage was small.
Choreo:- Nothing to talk about!
Stunts:- What stunts?
Edit: - Another 30 to 45 mins of cut is an absolutely necessity.
The one’s that worked: - The characterization during the death scene well crafted to showcase the emotions of each player .
The one’s that worked: - The characterization during the death scene were well crafted to showcase the emotions of each player.
The one’s that bombed:- The premise stretched to breaking point! Loosely strung screen play. Meandering and dull story telling.
Finally to sum it all up, a quote:- "A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic! The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all!
Left right & Centre: - A few occasional laughs but lots of moans and groans.
Bottom Line: - A MOVIE WITHOUT A CAUSE OR PURPOSE RARELY ENTERTAINS!
My Rating:- 1.5 + .5 for Concept Total:- 2/5
My Rating:- 1.5 + .5 for Concept Total:- 2/5
Until next time,
Director Haricharan
Chennai
12/06/2014
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