Director Radha Mohan is back after a gap with ‘Brindavanam’ and with this film he has delivered what one would expect of a Radha Mohan film. Starring Arulnithi, Tanya and Vivek in central roles, ‘Brindavanam’ is a neat feel good film which would make you laugh in many instances and also leave you teary eyed with its emotional content.
Kannan (Arulnithi) is a barber in Ooty and he cannot speak and hear. He is a darling of his locality as he is always smile faced and does small helps to all of them. He is an ardent fan of actor Vivek and his only meaning of entertainment is watching Vivek’s comedy sequences in television.
One sudden day Kannan accidentally meets Actor Vivek (Vivek) who has come to Ooty for a personal work. He helps Vivek to rectify a defect in the latter’s car. Soon the duo becomes close friends. Kannan’s friends Varkki (Senthil) and Sandhya (Tanya) also get close to Vivek and they all roam around happily as a group of friends.
Sandhya has long developed a feeling for Kannan and after being persuaded by Vivek, she expresses her love for Kannan. But Kannan rejects her proposal angrily. He also shuns Vivek’s advise in this regard.
Kannan rejecting Sandhya’s love has something to do with his sorrowful past. How does he come over that and unites with Sandhya with the help of Vivek forms the rest of the film.
Right from the beginning, we get the feel good feel that one would associate with almost every Radha Mohan film. The film has been entirely shot in the foggy cold locations of Ooty which supplements the feel good factor and watching them on the screen itself is a huge relief during this peak summer,
The film takes its own sweet time for the establishment of the characters which also includes a song for the heroine. When Vivek enters the scene the proceedings start engrossing the audience. In his very first scene, Vivek proves this is his strong comeback film by giving a series of hilarious banters on Arulnithi and others. Starting from the point, the entire first half till the interval and also for the predominant part of the second half is replete with rollicking laughter moments and impactful emotional moments. Dialogue writer Pon Parthiban who has teamed up with Radha Mohan for the second time after ‘Uppu Karuvadu’ has done a fantastic job with his comic and satirical one-liners and touching emotional dialogues.
After a point in second half the fact that there is not strong conflict in the story becomes quite evident and the script starts dragging. There is a twist which works out as a shock factor to an extent. The flash back sequence seems like an addition to add drama but it does not work out on expected lines. After the flashback we know what is going to happen at the end but the travel to the destination becomes a bumpy ride. But these sequences also have a few nice emotional scenes and dialogues.
The drawbacks of the second half big dampener when compared to the overall satisfaction the film gives when you leave the movie hall.
The film belongs to Vivek, It has been a long time we have seen this veteran comedian in full form giving a taste of all kinds of comic dialogues he has treated the Tamil audience over the past few decades. This includes, trolls on other characters, social satire, message oriented dialogues and also self trolls. In the emotional scenes Vivek proves yet again that he is not only a comedian but a reliable actor too.
Arulnithi as a speaking and hearing impaired person has given one of his career best performances But it has to be said that the emotional tear-shedding scenes remains a area of development for this young talent. The actor needs to be appreciated for his constant endeavor to be part of story oriented films under different genres.
Tanya looks attractive as an Ooty native girl and impresses with her confident performances. One can safely assume her to get more interesting offers in Kollywood.
M.S.Bhaskar does justice to the character as usual while all the other supporting actors do their part without any flaw. Senthil and Cell Murugan as a film Production Manager render good support to lift the comic portions of the film.
Vishal Chandrasekar’s background score is apt and appreciable while the songs just pass muster. M.S.Vivekanand’s cinematography captures the scenic beauty of Ooty in every frame. Editor T.S.Jay has ensured a smooth transition of scenes with his cuts.
Verdict: 'Brindavanam' is a typical Radhamohan film that you can watch and enjoy with your family in theaters, as it carries a lot of humor and touching emotional moments.
