Looks like the fast-paced action masala fever is catching up with all technicians in Kollywood nowadays. R. Madesh has tried his hand with such a subject having Vijay in the lead role and three heroines.
The story is nothing but a normal one that has been feeding the Kollywood industry from the days of Shivaji and MGR or even before perhaps, the Good guy opposes the bad one and finally wins. It was all the same in Vijay’s previous film too but the way it was handled, never let even a single soul slip eyes from the screen for even a moment. Sadly, Madesh has failed to keep up the pre-release hype and hoopla.
As its accepted widely in this industry, screenplay is the backbone of any film. In Madurey, it proves to be the first nail driven on the coffin. There are plenty of places in the script that resembles other movies from the past. To name some, I was reminded of Pandian, Basha and Saamy.
The innumerable fight sequences in the first half, all of them invariably forcing either Vijay or some other objects to fly, do not provide the required punch in the script. The sound effects, graphical ingredients and impact of Hollywood stunts sequences have really spoiled the Tamil Film industry. All stunt directors want to imitate Hollywood stunt standards now. The heroistic approach prevailing in our industry restricts them to tie the hero to a string and make him fly in air, in the process kicking 10 others. A couple of films might catch the eye but remember on the longer run its not worth it.
The comedy scenes are totally unnecessary and even obscene at times. They do not even tickle a slightest smile, leave alone a loud laugh. The first half contains 3 songs where two of the three heroines make appearances and 4 fight sequences. By the end of the first half, Vijay is shot by his mother (Seetha) and at this juncture, I reckon that most of the viewers would have been left stranded in a no-man’s isle.
Of the three heroines, Rakshitha gets the lead role though it was projected as Sonia Agarwal. Tejashree plays the perfect oomph chasing Vijay and dancing a couple of numbers with him. Rakshitha who is the daughter of a bigwig comes to the market (of all places on earth) for her project and ends up chasing Vijay for his love.
There are many loop holes (or should I say them as potholes) like this in the script which could have been plugged to make the script a complete one. For example, Yugendran is a playboy running an internet center and he gets beaten by Vijay in a tussle involving Vijay’s younger sister. His character hangs in the air as the focus suddenly shifts paradigm almost immediately after a fight sequence involving Vijay and goondas from Yugendran’s camp. Also Raj Kapoor plays a small role but he could have been used in better propositions.
Many characters like the above mentioned come and go but do not stand a chance to be registered even in the mind of the projector operator in the theatre. Enormous talent has been wasted in the roles of Seetha, A. V. Ramanan, Raj Kapoor and to some extent Sonia Agarwal. ’Vennira Aadai’ Moorthy has also acted in the film, yet many viewers would rate his program in Sun TV as better in comedy. Pasupathi has done another movie as the villain.
I am afraid that if he continues this trend, he would end up being branded as just another duck in the pond. His stellar performance in Virumandi has brought him may offers but he has to show versatility to sustain his fame.
Vidyasagar has scored the music. His two previous films with Vijay have been a relevation for the actor and had helped him resurge from a minor slump. This film should go down as a hit in the audio industry looking at the ratings that the songs have got in all countdowns. But those who credit Vidyasagar’s flair for melodious tunes would rate ’Kanden Kanden’ as the only song of the film.
Moreover, his background score for this film is a headache rather than adding spice to the script. All songs have fast paced tunes, much to the liking of the current youth, but the real music lover would still like to hear a song that one can listen while lying flat on the bed at night.
The pros of this film are Vijay’s physique only. All other aspects sadly turn out to be cons of this movie. It remains to be seen if Vijay’s magic would still be active to take this movie past some record numbers that ’Ghilli’ had posted.