Actor Vemal requires a hit film to regain his position in film industry and he is back with a semi-rural entertainer 'Mapla Singam' a setting which he fits well. All his hit films 'Kalavani','Thoonganagaram' and 'Kedi Billa Killadi Rangam' were set in either village or small town. This time the young actor has teamed up with Rajasekhar and let’s see how this has worked out for the actor who is desperate for a hit to strengthen his position as a commercial hero.
'Mapla Singam' starts with the rivalry over the rights to drag the Temple Chariot between two caste groups and each of them are represented by a political party. Radharavi has been the councillor of the town over two decades and he is also the leader of his caste. He is a person so entrenched with feudal values relating to caste, family system and treatment of women. He is dead against inter-caste love. His brother’s son Anbu (Vemal) and his group of friends would ensure that none of the girls belonging to their caste get married to the men from the rival caste.
But Radharavi’s daughter Madhumila falls in love with a guy from the rival caste and his sister is Shylaja (Anjali) who is a lawyer. Anbu who has been wrecking havoc to the love marriage attempts of others belonging to his caste by all means possible, falls instantly in love with Shylaja who also reciprocates his feelings.
The rest is how he gets the hand of his lover after winning over the caste and political rivalry of the two families.
The film starts off with the introduction of caste differences deep routed in villages and small towns of Tamil Nadu. There also some dialogues depicting the mindset of people against love and the parents showing extreme hurry to give off their daughters in marriage, before they fall in love with other caste men. With these, if you start expecting a serious film questioning the caste feelings and caste violence you will be let down as the film just ends as a village based comic caper which takes a dig at the feudal values and caste feelings here and there.
However the film will not let you down if you expect a time pass entertainer. The film moves along with funny dialogues and light hearted moments. The presence of a battalion of comedy actors Soori, Kaali Venkat, Muneeshkanth, Swaminathan and Adam Grieg succeed by and large in making us laugh. There is no melodrama, tearjerkers and excessive violence. And the film is completely devoid of double meaning dialogues and skin show thereby making it fit for family viewing.
Making a fun oriented film is nothing harmful but the director need not have mixed it with a serious issue like caste feelings which has been the cause for many murders of young men and women in Tamil Nadu in the recent years. The caste difference is sorted out with a convenient solution in this film which is far from reality.
Dialogues by Don Ashok are a plus for the film. They are comical as well as satirical and neatly supplement the director’s ambition of making a fun oriented film. The dialogues uttered by Anjali and Madhumila convey the importance of women’s education and stress their right to select their life partner. But still we feel that the dialogue writer could have been well utilized well to create some more strong digs at feudal and patriarchal values.
Vemal fits well in this role and he shows phenomenal improvement in dancing. There are a couple of fight scenes as well. Anjali is perfect in the role of a well-educated sensible and bold woman though there is nothing big for her to perform. Radharavi yet again proves that he is a seasoned performer. Songs by Raghunandan are listenable but one or two of them could have been done away with considering the length of the film. Rerecording and cinematography are adequate.
Verdict: A neat rural entertainer that can be watched with family
